Allah and more - basic terms related to God in the Arab Orthodox terminology

Abstract

The word “Allah” is associated usually with Islam. However, this term had been used among Arab Christians much earlier before the rise of Islam. Arabic language has been used in Orthodox service for almost 2000 years, so many terms have been developed long time ago. Among the most basic terms are the ones that call God and describe Him. They are used in the hymnography and prayers, sermons, articles and everyday life. However, in Polish literature those terms are still little known. Since Arabic belongs to the Semitic family of languages, its character is very different from Greek, Church Slavonic and Polish, and this affects a different point of view on some theological terms and also their variety. It also results in wealth of the terms related to God. The main reason of the differences in comparison with European languages is specific system of the Arabic language: the system of roots and themes. This is specified in the introductory part. The most basic terms related to God are presented and analyzed below. The terms are taken mainly from the liturgical texts, and some of them also from the Holy Scripture and sermons. Each term is also written in Church Slavonic to make it easier for the reader to understand it, since the Polish Orthodox terminology has not yet been established and unified. Each Arabic term is written in the original notation and ISO transcription used by Arabists in Poland.