<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Look up Reconstruction: Proto - Semitic / layl - in Wiktionary, the free dictionary . </Td> </Tr> <P> Leila (Hebrew: לילה ‎; Arabic: ليلى ‎; Persian: ليلا ‎) is a feminine given name in the Persian and Arabic languages . </P> <P> Leila is the Arabic and Persian word for "night": laylah . The identification of the word "night" as the name of an angel originates with the interpretation of "Rabbi Yochanan" (possibly Yochanan ben Zakkai, c. 30--90 AD) who read "At night (Abraham) and his servants deployed against them and defeated them" (Genesis 14.15, JPS) as "by (an angel called) night" (Sanhedrin 96a). </P> <P> The story of Qays and Layla or Layla and Majnun is based on the romantic poems of Qais Ibn Al - Mulawwah (قيس بن الملوح), who was nicknamed Majnoon Layla (مجنون ليلى), Arabic for "madly in love with Layla", his cousin Layla Al - Amiriah (ليلى العامرية) in 7th century Arabia . His poems are considered the paragon of unrequited chaste love . They later became a popular romance in medieval Iran, and use of the name spread accordingly . The name gained popularity further afield in the Muslim World, amongst Turkic peoples and in the Balkans and India . </P>

What's the meaning of the name layla