اللات

Arabic edit

Uncertain. Possible etymologies:^[1]

From the root ل ت ت (l-t-t), from which the verb لَتَّ (latta, “to mix, or knead, barley-meal”) is derived. This is the explanation given in Arab lexicographical tradition and supported by epigraphic evidence; compare Hismaic 𐪁𐪉 (lt).
A feminine form of اللّٰه (allāh) or الإلٰه (al-ʔilāh). This is supported by the form given by Herodotus, who identifies Ἀλιλᾱ́τ (Alilā́t) (which would correspond to *اَلْإِلَات (*alʔilāt)) with Aphrodite Urania,^[2] and is explained as having the same ending as some ossified vocative forms like أَخَات (ʔaḵāt) for أُخْت (ʔuḵt, “sister”).^[3] However, many gods and goddesses were referred to by the titles الإلٰه (al-ʔilāh) and الإِلٰهَة (al-ʔilāha), and so it is not certain that the goddess referenced by Herodotus is the same.

اللَّات • (al-lāt) f

(Arabian mythology) Allat
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 53:19-20:
  أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللَّاتَ وَٱلْعُزَّى وَمَنَاةَ ٱلثَّالِثَةَ ٱلْأُخْرَى
  ʔafaraʔaytumu l-lāta wal-ʕuzzā wamanāta ṯ-ṯāliṯata l-ʔuḵrā
  So have you considered al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā? And Manāt, the third - the other one?

Declension of noun اللَّات (al-lāt)

^ Fahd, T., "al-Lāt", Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 5: Khe-Mahi, 2nd edition, ed. by C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, B. Lewis and Ch. Pellat, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1986, page 892
^ J.F. Healey, The Religion of the Nabataeans: A Conspectus
^ Bauer, Hans (1915) “Semitische Sprachprobleme. 5. Die Verwandtschaftsnamen und ilāh „Gott“ im Semitischen”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (in German), volume 69, page 561