Allah

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Is the word “Allah” used in Eastern Catholicism?

Does the word Allah come from Aramaic?
 
“Allah” (or "Illah, depending on who you talk to) is sometimes used among the Melkites since it is the Arabic word for “God”. It may also be used by the other Arabic-speaking Eastern and Oriental Catholic Churches. Marduk?
 
Barbkw said:
Is the word “Allah” used in Eastern Catholicism?

Does the word Allah come from Aramaic?
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The word “Allah” (or, as Philip mentioned, “Illah” which is nothing more than a pronunciational variant) is the generic Arabic word for God so, yes, it is used by Christians (of all denominations) as well as Jews, and others as well.

It does not come from Aramaic, but is, rather, from a common Semitic root, as is the Hebrew “El” (or “Elohim”).
 
Fr. Mitch had a “Pilgrimage to Jordon” series on EWTN and on the entrance song a man is singing. I thought he was saying “Allah”, now I wonder if he’s saying, “Illah”.

In RCIA, our priest mentioned that many Christians reject to God being called Allah. He said that the word Allah was a derivation from other ancient words for the name God.
 
Barbkw said:
Fr. Mitch had a “Pilgrimage to Jordon” series on EWTN and on the entrance song a man is singing. I thought he was saying “Allah”, now I wonder if he’s saying, “Illah”.
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That was probably the “call to prayer” of the majority religion there, done from a minaret. In any case, as both Philip and I mentioned, the difference is merely pronunciational.
Barbkw said:
In RCIA, our priest mentioned that many Christians reject to God being called Allah. He said that the word Allah was a derivation from other ancient words for the name God.
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Perhaps he was referring to non-Arabic-speaking Christians. The majority religion in the Middle East does indeed lay claim to the word as both its very own and as a “proper name” but, regardless of any such claims, the word itself is (as I mentioned earlier) simply generic. Anyone of any religion who speaks the Arabic language can, will, and does, use it.
 
malphono said:
That was probably the “call to prayer” of the majority religion there, done from a minaret. In any case, as both Philip and I mentioned, the difference is merely pronunciational.
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For a couple of weeks, I was serving at Izmir Turkey (US Navy Reserves) and a mosque was quite close to our hotel. I’d hear the Muslim call to prayer throughout the day. During my stay there, I unfortuneately missed attending Catholic Mass at Izmir but was able to see Ephesus.

Being unfamiliar with Eastern Catholicism, I’m unclear what liturgical music sounds like in your language.

By chance, do you know of any Eastern Catholicism liturgical music on youTube?
 
BTW In modern and classical Aramaic/Syriac the word for “God” is ALAHA (ܐܠܗܐ), and this term is used by all Syriacs, Maronites, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.

Though the Syriacs and Maronites say ALOHO, only because their accent replaces most A’s with O’s for some reason 👍
 
Barbkw said:
For a couple of weeks, I was serving at Izmir Turkey (US Navy Reserves) and a mosque was quite close to our hotel. I’d hear the Muslim call to prayer throughout the day. During my stay there, I unfortuneately missed attending Catholic Mass at Izmir but was able to see Ephesus.
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Cool, I was in Izmir on a work project several years ago. I did get to go to Holy Thursday Mass there (flew home on Good Friday) . Didn’t have time to get to Ephesus or Patmos 😦

Nice place.
 
The Maltese Roman Catholics also have Alla as their word for God, so it is also used in the Roman Liturgy as well.
 
chaldobyzantine said:
BTW In modern and classical Aramaic/Syriac the word for “God” is ALAHA (ܐܠܗܐ), and this term is used by all Syriacs, Maronites, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.

Though the Syriacs and Maronites say ALOHO, only because their accent replaces most A’s with O’s for some reason 👍
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Yes, and it’s merely a dialectical/pronunciational difference: East Syriac holds to the “A” sound for the zqopho/zqapha, (I believe the Palestinian Jewish dialect does the same), whereas West Syriac holds to the “O” sound. 😉
 
Brendan said:
The Maltese Roman Catholics also have Alla as their word for God, so it is also used in the Roman Liturgy as well.
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And of course Maltese is a Semitic language (based on Arabic with a little Aramaic thrown in for good measure). Over the centuries it was also heavily influenced by Latin and, later, Italian.
 
Barbkw said:
Being unfamiliar with Eastern Catholicism, I’m unclear what liturgical music sounds like in your language.

By chance, do you know of any Eastern Catholicism liturgical music on youTube?
Click to expand...
There are plenty, and they’re all different. It could be Byzantine (Greek or Slavic – they’re not the same), Coptic, Ethiopian, Chaldean/Assyrian, Syriac, Maronite, Armenian, Syro-Malabar, or Syro-Malankara. You’d have to do a search based on the particular tradition you’re interested in.
 
And even the Indonesian and Malaysian Roman Catholics have it, thanks to a loanword from Arabic… (this has been a very controversial issue lately)

Ethiopians and Eritreans, despite being largely Semitic, have “Amlak” in their common liturgical language, Ge’ez (the largest contingents of the two communities, Amhara and Tigray-Tigrinya people, speak closely related South Semitic languages as their mother tongues). It literally means “idol”, but obviously has undergone some semantic shift following the conversion of the kingdom of Axum to Christianity in the fourth century AD.
 
Phillip_Rolfes said:
“Allah” (or "Illah, depending on who you talk to) is sometimes used among the Melkites since it is the Arabic word for “God”. It may also be used by the other Arabic-speaking Eastern and Oriental Catholic Churches. Marduk?
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Yes. 🙂 In arabic, that is.

Concisely, the Coptic word for “God” is noute.

Blessings,
Marduk
 
dzheremi said:
And even the Indonesian and Malaysian Roman Catholics have it, thanks to a loanword from Arabic… (this has been a very controversial issue lately)

Ethiopians and Eritreans, despite being largely Semitic, have “Amlak” in their common liturgical language, Ge’ez (the largest contingents of the two communities, Amhara and Tigray-Tigrinya people, speak closely related South Semitic languages as their mother tongues). It literally means “idol”, but obviously has undergone some semantic shift following the conversion of the kingdom of Axum to Christianity in the fourth century AD.
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The Filipino word for God is “Diyos” (pronounced “d-yos”), thanks of course to our Spanish conquerors of 333 years. External influence does play a role in how a culture calls God.
 
The word “Allah” indeed is loaned from Arabic word and enter into Malay and Indonesian.
As an Indonesian speaker, the word is already part of our language vocabulary and used in religious and secular context.

The situation is different in Malaysia where it became a controversy.
 
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