 Early Jewish texts referred to a " western wall of the Temple " , but there is doubt whether the texts were referring to the outer , retaining wall called today " the Western Wall " , or to the western wall of the actual Temple . The earliest Jewish use of the Hebrew term " ha @-@ kotel ha @-@ ma <unk> " , " the Western Wall " , as referring to the wall visible today , was by the 11th @-@ century poet Ahimaaz ben <unk> . The name " Wailing Wall " , and descriptions such as " wailing place " , appeared regularly in English literature during the 19th century . The name Mur des Lamentations was used in French and <unk> in German . This term itself was a translation of the Arabic el @-@ <unk> , or " Place of Weeping " , the traditional Arabic term for the wall . This description stemmed from the Jewish practice of coming to the site to mourn and bemoan the destruction of the Temple . 
