Arabic definite article
The etymology of "al"- is the study of how it developed and how it changed over time. There are several major opinions in regards to the origins of the Arabic definite article. The earliest evidence of the article, besides a 1st-century BC inscription in Qaryat al-Faw (formerly Qaryat Dhat Kahil, near Sulayyil, Saudi Arabia), occurs in the 5th century BC, in the epithet of a goddess which Herodotus ("Histories" I: 131, III: 8) quotes in its preclassical Arabic form as "Alilat" (Ἀλιλάτ, i. e.,"ʼal-ʼilat"), which means "the goddess".