* Lengthened from Proto-Semitic *ʾila (“towards, nigh”), displaying some attachment of Proto-Semitic *la (“for”) used in Literary Arabic لَ (la, “for”) only before pronominal suffixes, having stood in some variation with Proto-Semitic *li (“for”) from which Arabic لِ (li, “for”). Compare عَلَى (ʕalā).
* Related to the root ء و ل (ʔ w l) in the sense of “returning” and to the root ء ل و (ʔ l w) in the sense of “striving towards but failing”.