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Is Allah ever a common noun?

or is it always a proper noun?

And if so, do they look different in the arabic?

barlop
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  • What are (your definitions of) a common and a proper noun? – Omar and Lorraine Apr 28 '19 at 15:52
  • Of course it is -- a proper name to be precise. – BillJ Apr 28 '19 at 16:01
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    In Shona, chipo is both a proper name and a common noun. In Kuria, chaacha is a name conventionally assigned to a class of people (first born males) so is arguably not a "proper name". So this is not an "of course". – user6726 Apr 28 '19 at 16:33
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    @user6726 Believe it or not, I'm talking about English! – BillJ Apr 28 '19 at 16:52
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    I see, I didn't understand that since the question was not about English, so I naturally thought you were commenting on the question asked. – user6726 Apr 28 '19 at 16:54
  • OP, if you can edit this question to include some of the information from your comments, it might make it better. As is, the question you are asking is trivial & answered by a dictionary: الله‎ /aɫˈɫaːh/ is a proper noun meaning "the monotheistic God" (not just in Islam, the word is also used to refer to the singular God of the Christians, Baha'i, Jews, etc.). The common-noun version is الْإِلٰه‎, /al-ʔi.laːh/ which means "(the) god" in reference to any deity. If this answer is not satisfactory, then you need to do a better job explaining what it is you are seeking. – Mark Beadles Apr 29 '19 at 17:20
  • ...in particular, the word "Allah" is known to have predated Islam; Muhammad's father's name was "Abdullah", Arabic translations of the New Testament and Christian jewelry have been found which use the term "Allah", and there is evidence that the chief deity of the pagan pre-Muslim Arabs was often called "Allah". – Mark Beadles Apr 29 '19 at 18:01

1 Answers1

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The word Allāh is a contraction of al- "the" and ilāh "god". However, the contraction is only used as a proper name for the Abrahamic G-d; "the god" in any other context is uncontracted al-'ilāh.

So no, it's always a proper noun when it's contracted.

Draconis
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  • So colloquial "yallah" includes a proper noun? (And note, the question did not ask about Arabic only.) – Adam Bittlingmayer Apr 28 '19 at 19:30
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    @AdamBittlingmayer True, but the question is tagged #arabic and nothing else. It seemed fair to restrict the answer to Arabic. – Draconis Apr 28 '19 at 19:44
  • You say Allah " only used as a proper name for the Abrahamic G-d" <--- That sounds like a big claim. So before islam, did pagans, those not Jewish or Christian, ever use the term Allah for any of their Gods? Did the term or name Allah originate with Jews and Christians, or did the term/name originate with Islam? – barlop Apr 28 '19 at 22:15
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    @barlop The word literally means "the deity"; compare the Hebrew elohim from the same root. Christians generally used kyrios (Greek) > dominus (Latin), calquing Hebrew adonai. I'm afraid I don't know much about pre-Qur'anic Arabic, but if you asked that as a separate question someone else might be able to help. – Draconis Apr 28 '19 at 23:26
  • @Draconis Elohim means God or gods , it can include false gods or gods that shouldn't be worshipped. It's more like Ilah than Allah. And I guess perhaps I should edit my answer to be clear. I'm not asking about just Quran onwards. I'm talking of arabic prior to the influence of islam too. You can't really answer the question avoiding pre quranic arabic. It's not an islammic question so i'm not asking specifically about quranic arabic. Or just modern understanding of arabic as heavily influenced by islam which is very narrow – barlop Apr 29 '19 at 00:35
  • @barlop. In ancient North and South Arabian inscriptions we have the god Allāh and also the goddess Allāt. These are not exclusive to the “Abrahamic” “monotheistic” religions. – fdb Apr 29 '19 at 22:13
  • @fdb Indeed, and this is why this answer is incorrect, as i'm asking about arabic not about islam and not about arabic with islammic belief mixed in. I wonder if in those ancient times, Allah was "the most supreme god"? Or perhaps "the God" in the sense that the one that stands out.If it's a name it suggests they thought there was only one and then it seems like it wasn't meant as a title. – barlop Apr 29 '19 at 22:22
  • @barlop I'm not sure you can find any modern Arabic without Islamic influence. If you're curious about the history of Arabic ("has the Arabic contraction Allāh ever been used as a common noun in the past?") you should ask that as a separate question, possibly on Arabic.SE. – Draconis Apr 29 '19 at 22:25
  • @fdb If it's a name then maybe it suggests they thought there was only one and then if it was meant as a title too, then it'd perhaps have been thought to only apply to that one pagan allah moon god, husband of allat? – barlop Apr 29 '19 at 22:28
  • @Draconis what Arabic SE are you talking about? https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/283101/arabic-stack-exchange says there's nothing – barlop Apr 29 '19 at 22:28
  • @barlop Ah, I'd thought there was one? In that case, it would be worth asking here; questions about language history are more on-topic than questions about language usage, so asking specifically about the contraction Allāh and its origin could be on-topic. – Draconis Apr 29 '19 at 22:37
  • I'm not experienced on this site, can you post an example of the question that owuld be accepted here and link it to me on www.pastebin.com ? then I can look at ti see if it is what I want, and post it. Or perhaps you could post the question? Thanks I have no idea how to ask the question without somebody saying i'm asking about language usage – barlop Apr 29 '19 at 22:42
  • @barlop Sure, I can try to post a question in a couple hours. – Draconis Apr 29 '19 at 22:45
  • @Draconis thanks – barlop Apr 29 '19 at 23:42