See also: اللە and اللہ

U+FDF2, ﷲ
ARABIC LIGATURE ALLAH ISOLATED FORM

[U+FDF1]
Arabic Presentation Forms-A
[U+FDF3]

Arabic

 
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اللّٰه

Etymology

From the root ء ل ه (ʔ-l-h). Widely theorized to be a contraction of الٱِلٰه (al-ilāh, God), from الإلٰه (al-ʔilāh, the deity) with loss of initial hamza after the definite article ال (al-). Others suggest it is a variant spelling of the more ancient ألّٰه (allāh), the extra ل (l) serving as an emphatic marker to emphasize distinction, first attested in the Mecca and Taif region, and later in the Quran. Both proposed roots were current in pre-Islamic usage, particularly الإلٰه (al-ilāh) in Nabataean macaronic Arabic-Aramaic usage from which the singular use has presumably spread. Ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ʔil-. Cognate with Classical Syriac ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ (ʾalāhā), Assyrian Neo-Aramaic ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ (allāhā), Aramaic אֱלָהָא (ʾĕlāhā), Hebrew אֱלוֹהַּ (ʾelōah), and Old South Arabian 𐩱𐩡𐩠 (ʾlh).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /aɫ.ɫaː(h)/ (in isolation)
  • IPA(key): /aɫ.ɫaːh/ (phonemic, in isolation or before a pausa)
  • IPA(key): /aɫ.ɫaː.hu/ (classical, nominative form)
    Egypt, Levant, Sudan: IPA(key): [ɑɫˈɫɑː]
    Central Arabia: IPA(key): [ɑɫˈɫɑː]
    Western Arabia: IPA(key): [aɫˈɫaː]
    Eastern Arabia: IPA(key): [ˈɑɫɫɐ]
    Morocco, Tunisia: IPA(key): [ɑɫˈɫɑːh]
    Classical: IPA(key): [ʔalˤlˤaːh], [ʔalːˤaːh]
  • (after a or u): /ɫ.ɫaːh/
    Egypt, Levant, Sudan: IPA(key): [ɫɫɑː]
    Central Arabia: IPA(key): [ɫɫɑː]
    Eastern Arabia: IPA(key): [ɫɫɐ]
    Morocco, Tunisia: IPA(key): [ɫɫɑːh]
  • (after i): /l.laːh/
    Egypt, central Arabia: IPA(key): [llæː]
    Levant, Sudan, Western Arabia: IPA(key): [llaː]
    Tunisia: IPA(key): [llɛːh]
    Morocco: IPA(key): [llæːh]
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Proper noun

اللّٰه (allāhm

  1. (monotheism) God
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 112:1-4:
      قُلْ هُوَ ٱللّٰهُ أَحَدٌ ٱللّٰهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
      qul huwa llāhu ʔaḥadun llāhu ṣ-ṣamadu lam yalid wa-lam yūlad wa-lam yakun lahu kufuwan ʔaḥadun
      Say, “He is God, [who is] One, God, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent.”
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, [] (King James Version), London: [] Robert Barker, [], →OCLC, John 3:16:
      لِأَنَّهُ هٰكَذَا أَحَبَّ ٱللهُ ٱلْعَالَمَ حَتَّى بَذَلَ ٱبْنَهُ ٱلْوَحِيدَ، لِكَيْ لَا يَهْلِكَ كُلُّ مَنْ يُؤْمِنُ بِهِ، بَلْ يَكُونُ لَهُ الْحَيَاةُ ٱلْأَبَدِيَّةُ.
      For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
    • 1865 CE, Bible (SVD), Gospel of John, 11:4:
      فَلَمَّا سَمِعَ يَسُوعُ قَالَ: هٰذَا ٱلْمَرَضُ لَيْسَ لِلْمَوْتِ بَلْ لِأَجْلِ مَجْدِ اللّٰهِ لِيَتَمَجَّدَ ٱبْنُ اللّٰهِ بِهِ.
      fa-lammā samiʕa yasūʕu qāla: hāḏā l-maraḍu laysa li-l-mawti bal li-ʔajli majdi llāhi li-yatamajjada bnu llāhi bihi.
      When Jesus heard it, he said: This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

Usage notes

  • In Islamic contexts, this word may alternatively be translated into English as Allah. Note, however, that the Arabic word is just as neutral and general as English God, and does not express any particularly Islamic notion at all. الله (allāh) is the word used by Christians, Jews, and other monotheists to describe the God of their own religions, and is cognate to the words used in Hebrew and Syriac. The Jewish sage Saadia Gaon even used الله (allāh) to translate the Tetragrammaton in his translation of the Torah.

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Maltese: Alla, alla

Borrowings:

From يَا اللّٰه (yā llāh, O God): (see also the descendants at يَاٱللَّٰه (yāllāh))

See also

References

  • Jeffery, Arthur (1938) “اَللّٰه”, in The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān (Gaekwad’s Oriental Series; 79), Baroda: Oriental Institute, page 66
  • Nehmé, Laïla (2017) “New dated inscriptions (Nabataean and pre-Islamic Arabic) from a site near al-Jawf, ancient Dūmah, Saudi Arabia”, in Arabian Epigraphic Notes[1], volume 3, pages 121–164
  • Wehr, Hans (1979) “ءله”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Further reading

Anagrams

Hijazi Arabic

Etymology

Inherited from Arabic الله (allāh).

Pronunciation 1

Proper noun

الله (aḷḷām

  1. (monotheism) God

Interjection

الله (aḷḷā)

  1. oh my God (to something beautiful and exciting)

Pronunciation 2

Interjection

الله (aḷḷa)

  1. oh my God (to something shocking)
Usage notes

The pronunciation with the final long vowel is used as an interjection to something beautiful and exciting, while the pronunciation with the short vowel is used as an interjection to something shocking.

See also

Khalaj

Noun

اَللّٰه (Allâh) (definite accusative اَللّٰه‌ؽ)

  1. Arabic spelling of Allâh (God)

Declension

Malay

Proper noun

الله

  1. Jawi spelling of Allah

North Levantine Arabic

Etymology

Inherited from Arabic الله (allāh).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

الله (ʾAllam

  1. (monotheism) God
    هوه ملحد، ما بيآمن بشي اسمو الله
    Huwi mulḥid, ma biʾāmin bi-ši ismu Alla.
    He’s an atheist, he doesn’t believe in such a thing as God.

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic اللّٰه (allāh); ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ʾil-.

Noun

الله (Allah)

  1. (Islam) Allah, God

Descendants

See also

Pashto

 
Pashto Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic اللّٰه (allāh); ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ʾil-.

Proper noun

الله (allāh)

  1. Allah

See also

Persian

 
Persian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fa
Dari الله
Iranian Persian
Tajik Аллоҳ

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic اَللّٰه (allāh); ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ʾil-.

Pronunciation

 

Readings
Classical reading? allāh
Dari reading? allāh
Iranian reading? allâh
Tajik reading? alloh

Noun

اَلله (allâh)

  1. God, Allah

See also

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology

Inherited from Arabic الله (allāh).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʔalˤ.lˤa/, [ˈʔɑlˤ.lˤɑ]
  • IPA(key): /ʔalˤ.lˤaːh/, [ʔɑlˤˈlˤɑːh]
  • Audio (Ramallah):(file)

Proper noun

الله (ʔaḷḷa, ʔaḷḷāhm

  1. (monotheism) God, Allah

Derived terms

Ushojo

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic الله (ʔaḷḷāh).

Noun

الله (allāh)

  1. (Islam) Allah, God