See also: ألف, الق, and ألق

Ottoman Turkish

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Etymology

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From Arabic أَلِف (ʔalif).

Noun

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الف (elif)

  1. alif
  2. something shaped like an alif

Descendants

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  • Turkish: elif

References

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Persian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Arabic أَلِف (ʔalif).

Pronunciation

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Readings
Classical reading? alif
Dari reading? alif
Iranian reading? alef
Tajik reading? alif

Noun

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Dari اَلِف
Iranian Persian
Tajik алиф

اَلِف (alef)

  1. alif (the letter ا, the first letter of the Persian and Arabic abjads)
    • c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume I, verse 1514:
      ما که‌‌ایم اندر جهان پیچ پیچ
      چون الف او خود چه دارد هیچ هیچ
      mā ki-ēm andar jahān-i pēč pēč
      čūn alif ō xwad či dārad hēč hēč
      Who are we? In this tangled world
      What [thing other than He] indeed hath He [who is single] like alif? Nothing, nothing.
      (Classical Persian transliteration)
  2. (figurative) something or someone erect and tall like the letter ا; (in particular) the beautiful, slender stature of the beloved
    • c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 317”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎[2]:
      نیست بر لوحِ دلم جز الفِ قامتِ دوست
      چه کنم حرفِ دگر یاد نداد استادم
      nēst bar lawh-i dil-am juz alif-i qāmat-i dōst
      či kunam harf-i digar yād na-dād ustād-am
      The tablet of my heart has nothing [written] on it but the alif of my love's figure;
      What can I do? My master taught me no other letter.
      (Classical Persian transliteration)
    • c. 1520, Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benedek Péri, The Persian Dīvān of Yavuz Sulṭān Selīm, Budapest, Hungary: Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, →ISBN, page 188:
      بدل از خار خار هجر الف‌ها
      من دیوانه را سرو سمن بس
      ba-dil az xār xār-i hajr-i alif-hā
      man-i dēwāna rā sarw-i saman bas
      The affliction to the heart from bidding the alifs [slender beauties] farewell
      Is enough of jasmine cypresses [beauties as slender as cypresses and beautiful as jasmines] for me, the madman.
      (Classical Persian transliteration)

Derived terms

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Urdu

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Classical Persian الف (alif), from Arabic أَلِف (ʔalif).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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الِف (alifm (Hindi spelling अलिफ़)

  1. name of the first letter of the Urdu alphabet; alif

Declension

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Declension of الف
singular plural
direct الِف (alif) الِف (alif)
oblique الِف (alif) الِفوں (alifõ)
vocative الِف (alif) الِفو (alifo)

References

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  • Platts, John T. (1884) “الف”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.