Propaganda and Allah

[Mark Mandel]

As I recall reading, but I don't remember where; can anyone confirm or
deny?:
 1. "Allah" is formed from the definite article "al-" plus the pre-Islamic
word for 'god' "lah".
 2. It has no feminine and no plural.
 3. The "l" is velarized, and the lateral of the article assimilates to it.
 4. This is the only word in Arabic with a long velarized /l/ [which sounds
less likely the longer I consider it].

Opinion: People who want to dehumanize the perceived enemy, or portray them
as different and inferior, find it suits their prejudice to reject
equivalences and translations that might imply that THEY have any values in
common with US. Thus, WE true believers worship "God" while THEY, who are
infidels, worship "Allah" (or vice versa).

                  Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist
 Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company : speech recognition
 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com