Arabic definite article
The etymology of the word "Allāh" has been discussed extensively by classical Arab philologists. Grammarians of the Basra school regarded it as either formed "spontaneously" ("murtajal") or as the definite form of "lāh" (from the verbal root "lyh" with the meaning of "lofty" or "hidden"). Others held that it was borrowed from Syriac or Hebrew, but most considered it to be derived from a contraction of the Arabic definite article "al-" "the" and ' "deity, god" to ' meaning "the deity", or "the God". The majority of modern scholars subscribe to the latter theory, and view the loanword hypothesis with skepticism.