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Etymology

The etymology of the word Allāh has been discussed extensively by classical Arab philologists. Most considered it to be derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- and ilāh " deity, god" to al-lāh meaning "the deity, the God". Indeed, there is "the interchangeability of al-ilāh and allāh in early Arabic poetry even when composed by the Christian ʿAdī ibn Zayd. The majority of scholars accept this hypothesis. A minority hypothesis, seen with more skepticism, is that the term is a loanword from Syriac Alāhā.

Grammarians of the 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").

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 lh and ʿAththar (b-khl w-lh w-ʿṯr)".

Cognates of the name "Allāh" exist in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew and Aramaic. The corresponding Aramaic form is ʼElāh (אלה), but its emphatic state is ʼElāhā (אלהא). It is written as ܐܠܗܐ (ʼĔlāhā) in Biblical Aramaic and ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ (ʼAlāhā) in Syriac, both meaning simply "God". The unusual Syriac form is likely an imitation of the Arabic.