For other uses of this term, see ABD (disambiguation).
'Abd (عبد) is an Arabic noun meaning "slave" or "servant" and is part of many male names in this language.
Appears associated with a divine name. At present, and among Muslims, it is usually one of the 99 names with which the Muslim tradition refers to God, or the very word that designates God in Arabic: Allah:
In addition to the 99 names, it can be associated with similar ones, or the prophet Mohammed:
Among Arab-speaking Christians, it can be associated with specific names of this religion, such as:
In pre-Islamic Arabia, names such as Abd al-Kaaba ("slave of the Kaaba" or "servant of the Kaaba"), Abd Shams ("slave of the Sun" or "servant of the Sun"), Abd al- slave of Al-Lat ", a pagan goddess," servant of Al-Lat ") and others. We even find Abd al-Muttalib, a name without religious connotation of Muhammad's grandfather, named for his bondage to his uncle Muttalib.
These names have two different pronunciations, depending on whether the word abd is added or not the ending -u, which is the nominative mark determined in classical Arabic. The written form of the name is invariable, since this termination is a brief vowel and therefore is not usually written. Thus, the name عبد الله can be read in a more classic way, Abdullah, or in a more colloquial way: Abd Allah, this being the most commonly used form. The transliterations to other alphabets register this variation, opting for one way or another.
Outside the Arab world, these names are equally widespread among Muslims of any language, and have undergone phonetic adaptations. It is usually based on the more classical pronunciation with -u (since the Arabic is known is the classic of the liturgy, not the spoken one). Thus, Abdullah has given Abdüllah in Turkish, Abdoulaye wolof, Abdulla in Azerbaijani and Kurdish, or Abdollah in Persian, etc.
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