On the etymology of the name Allah

This article represents the first part of a research essay on debates in classical Arab-Muslim Philology and Theology regarding the lexical origin of the name Allah, its semantics and theological/terminological definition, with primordiate attention to the relevant Kalam-Atharite controversy around the essence of divinity and its “most specific characteristics” (akhass wasf). This part verifies antagonistic evidence about the dominant view on derivation, and highlights the arguments and counter-arguments of both parts, supporters and opponents of the thesis about the driveability (ishtiqāq) of the God’s name. The research provides a fairly complete list of the developed versions of its etymology classifi ed into four headings: derived from ilāh (eleven options), from wilāh (five options), from lāh (fi ve options) and from hu (one option).