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Line 8: Originating in Iraq, the group underwent [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant#Name|various previous name changes]], and since 2006 had been known as Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), a name which had failed to gain any traction, as the group had failed to gain or hold any significant territory as ISI, and thus widespread confusion over what to call them was largely absent.<ref name=NYT2Dec2015/> Confusion began when the group gained further territory and changed its name to ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah fī 'l-ʿIrāq wa-sh-Shām in April 2013 as it expanded into Syria. It then changed to ad-Dawlah al-Islāmiyah in June 2014 as part of a desire to re-establish a [[caliphate]].<ref name=Inquisitr18Jun2014/> The rendering of the Arabic name in English varies, due to imprecise translation.<ref name=WashingtonPost25Nov2015/> In the Arab world and beyond, the group is referred to by its Arabic-language acronym ''Daesh'' / alt. ''Da'esh'' (داعش; pronounced "dah-ESH"): "D" / da(د) = ''ad-'''D'''awla'', "the State (of)", "A" / alif(ا) = ''al-'''I'''slamiyya'', "the Islamic", "E" / 'ayn(ع) = ''fi'l-'''A''''iraq'', "in the Iraq", "Sh" / shin(ش) = ''wa-ash-'''Sh'''am'', "and the [[Syria_(region)|Sham]] [region roughly equivalent to the [[Levant]]]". "Daesh" is a [[Transcription (linguistics)|transcription]] of the pronunciation of the group's acronym in Arabic. Unfortunately, it is not an English-language acronym in its own right, due to discrepancies between English/Arabic alphabets and phonologies. Specifically, the Arabic letter shin (ش) has no equivalent in English, though it makes a sound identical to the [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]] "sh". Alif (ا) is usually equated to the letter A, but in fact can represent several different vowel sounds as well as a glottal stop, depending on the context (''D'''a'''esh'' vs. ''al-'''I'''slam''). Additionally, the pronunciation of the letter 'ayn (ع) is also variable, and has no equivalent letter or vocalization in English. | |||