Allah

==Etymology==
[[File:Component letters in Allah.svg|thumb|240px| The Arabic components that make up the word "Allah": {{ordered list |[[Aleph#Arabic|alif]] |[[Hamza#Hamzat al-waṣl ( ٱ )|hamzat waṣl]] ({{lang|ar|همزة وصل}}) |[[lām]] |lām |[[shadda]] ({{lang|ar|شدة}}) |[[dagger alif]] ({{lang|ar|ألف خنجرية}}) |[[hāʾ]]}}]]

The [[etymology]] of the word ''Allāh'' has been discussed extensively by classical Arab philologists.<ref name=EI2-Ilah>D.B. Macdonald. Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed, Brill. "Ilah", Vol. 3, p. 1093.</ref> Grammarians of the [[Hasan of Basra|Basra school]] regarded it as either formed "spontaneously" (''murtajal'') or as the definite form of ''lāh'' (from the verbal root ''lyh'' with the meaning of "lofty" or "hidden").<ref name=EI2-Ilah/> Others held that it was borrowed from Syriac or Hebrew.

Most considered it to be derived from a [[synalepha|contraction]] of the [[Arabic definite article]] ''al-'' and ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ilāh}}'' "[[deity]], god" to ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|al-lāh}}'' meaning "the deity, the God".<ref name=EI2-Ilah/> Indeed, there is "the interchangeability of ''al-ilāh'' and ''allāh'' in early Arabic poetry even when composed by the Christian [[Adi ibn Zayd|ʿAdī ibn Zayd]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sinai |first1=Nicholas |title=Rain-Giver, Bone-Breaker, Score-Settler: Allāh in Pre-Quranic Poetry |date=2019 |publisher=American Oriental Society |location=Atlanta, GA |isbn=978-1-948488-25-9 |page=7}}</ref>

The majority of modern scholars subscribe to the latter theory and view the loanword hypothesis with skepticism.<ref>[[Gerhard Böwering]]. [[Encyclopedia of the Quran]], Brill, 2002. Vol. 2, p. 318</ref>

The use of Allah as the name of a deity appears as early as the [[first century]]. An inscription using the [[Ancient South Arabian script]] in [[Old Arabic]] from [[Qaryat al-Fāw]] reads, "to Kahl and {{smallcaps|lh}} and ʿAththar ({{smallcaps|b-khl w-lh w-ʿṯr}})".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sinai |first1=Nicholas |title=Rain-Giver, Bone-Breaker, Score-Settler: Allāh in Pre-Quranic Poetry |date=2019 |publisher=American Oriental Society |location=Atlanta, GA |isbn=978-1-948488-25-9 |page=12}}</ref>

[[Cognates]] of the name "Allāh" exist in other [[Semitic languages]], including [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]].<ref name="autogenerated1">Columbia Encyclopaedia says: Derived from an old Semitic root referring to the Divine and used in the Canaanite ''[[El (deity)|El]]'', the Mesopotamian ''[[Ilah|ilu]]'', and the biblical ''[[Elohim]]'' and ''[[Eloah]]'', the word Allah is used by all Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other monotheists.</ref> The corresponding [[Aramaic]] form is ''ʼElāh'' ({{lang|arc|אלה}}), but its emphatic state is ''{{transliteration|arc|ʼElāhā}}'' ({{lang|arc|אלהא}}). It is written as {{lang|syc|ܐܠܗܐ}} ({{transliteration|arc|ʼĔlāhā}}) in [[Biblical Aramaic]] and {{lang|syc|ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ}} ({{transliteration|syc|ʼAlāhā}}) in [[Syriac language|Syriac]], both meaning simply "God".<ref name="cal">[http://cal1.cn.huc.edu The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon] – Entry for ''ʼlh''  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018045941/http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/ |date=18 October 2013 }}</ref> The unusual Syriac form is likely an imitation of the Arabic.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sinai |first1=Nicholas |title=Rain-Giver, Bone-Breaker, Score-Settler: Allāh in Pre-Quranic Poetry |date=2019 |publisher=American Oriental Society |location=Atlanta, GA |isbn=978-1-948488-25-9 |page=8}}</ref>