FW: Propaganda and Allah

[Frank Abate]

A question re the following:  Assuming "Allah" is the Arabic article "al"
plus "lah" (is that true?), what is the etymological meaning of "lah"?

Excuse my abject ignorance of Arabic.  Just curious.

Frank Abate

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Paul Frank
Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2001 1:00 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Propaganda and Allah


>From what I understand Allah is the Arabic word for God. It is used by
Arabic-speaking Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Allah is not the Arabic word
for the God of the Quran or the God of the Hebrew Bible or the God of the
Christian Gospels, but for God, who is worshipped by Muslims, Jews, and
Christians. Unless I'm mistaken, Arabic translations of the Bible also refer
to God as Allah. U.S. newspapers - those that are written in English, that
is - ought to say that Muslims worship God. In fact, I've noticed that the
New York Times does follow this practice.

Paul
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Paul Frank
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