What is "islam"?
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Oh right Mof do you know what the is- prefix is? It's in Ishmael, Islam, isacc so I'm guessing it may be a root word? Seeing as these things are named by the same person prophet Abraham.
Your conclusion concerning Abraham's choice of names for his sons is logically sound, he did surely have an intention with the choice, but Is- is not a prefix or root, the Alif is the prefix while the rest of the word is part of the root, such as (Siin-Miim-Ayn) in the case of Ismael which means 'the Hearer' or more properly 'the Hearkener' (as in you take in information and process it). His name ends with Lam and like Amenuel it is in relationship to Allah as you are Such As, you can comprehend like Who Is (God/Rabb). Amenuel means 'who has such integrity' (is realized that way) and certain Jewish scholars interpreted it slightly inaccurately as 'God is with us'. While it is not a false statement it is not linguistically accurate and 'God is in him' is in that case more appropriate in order to philosophically explain the phenomenon. Asmael's name thus means 'who hearkens (grasps unto/takes in) like (Him)'.
Many ancient Semitic names end in Lam for a similar reason because they gave an attribute of God/Rabb to their children in order for them to imitate their God/Rabb.
As for your Islam the word is and Alif is the prefix and is the root, and salam means sound, in good condition. (al-selam) is about being in harmony with your soul, the word is an adjective which you attribute to a subject alternatively an object. Salam, the word, is hardly anything that Abraham invented and it is a word with a very old origin. Its morphological meaning is "Spirit (as) Such Thereof" which is in relationship to God/Rabb, all Semitic roots point back to God/Rabb as it was God/Rabb who invented Arabic and Aramaic with their letter system. Basically the word means that you are rock solid in terms of soundness and unbroken, e.g. you are whole.
Of course there has to be a reason why Abraham chose just Asmael and Ashaq for his two sons, one probably being that the Siin in his sons' names relates to the Spirit just as the Siin does in Selam, but the Alif is still a prefix to the root. Ashaq's name means distant and remote in a positive light like being way distanced from something with the thought of Abraham likely being remote to the relationship to this world. Obviously Abraham wished for his sons to find God/Rabb's Spirit in them and act accordingly to that realization.
What language is this from?
Arabic and Aramaic, Semitic root authentic languages, they share the same roots because the letters mean the same irrelevant of which language that uses them authentically and only the grammar differentiates them.
Be well
Amenuel -
What do you mean with "Why is the "l" in English"? The word is Al-selam and it is spelled in Arabic.
The real pronunciation is See or Si as the letter used is Seen.
English cannot be compared with these Semitic languages due to their structure.
Be well
Amenuel