ayatollah

The story

1. Arabic · derived fromآيَةُ ٱللَّٰهِ“sign of God”
2. Iranian Persian · borrowed fromآیَتُاللّٰه
3. English todayayatollah

Borrowed from Iranian Persian آیَتُاللّٰه (âyato-l-lâh), from Classical Persian آیَةُاللّٰه (āyatu-l-lāh), from Arabic آيَةُ ٱللَّٰهِ (ʔāyatu llāhi, “sign of God”, from آيَة (ʔāya, “sign”) + اللّٰه (allāh, “God”)).