See also: رق

Arabic

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Etymology 1

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Disputed etymology:

  • Natively from the root ر ف ف (r-f-f) in the sense of an outstretched wing being symbolic of protection, a coverlet; hence originally an awning or covering; semantically becoming a story or tier of a building as each window would feature such a cloth shelf above it. Parallel semantic conception found with Hebrew רפפות (window shutters; a collection of layered thin strips) and Western Neo-Aramaic ܪܦ (rap, level, story; room, chamber).
  • Natively from the root ر ف ف (r-f-f) in the sense of stretching elbows out on a pillow or cushion, stemming from an outstretched wing; hence a place to place things, a place to spread things out on.
  • From Aramaic found in its descendant Western Neo-Aramaic ܪܦ (rap, level, story; room, chamber) of uncertain etymology, but considered likely foreign or possibly even borrowed from Arabic; as for a foreign source possibly connected to Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ-.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /raff/
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

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رَفّ (raffm (plural رُفُوف (rufūf) or أَرْفُف (ʔarfuf) or رِفَاف (rifāf))

  1. sill; shelf; whatnot
    • p. 2000, كَرِيم مَعْتُوق (karīm maʕtūq)[1]:
      مَا مَرَّ شَذَاهَا بِخُطُوطِ الْوَرَقِ الْمُلْقَى عَلَى الْأَرْفُفِ
      mā marra šaḏāhā biḵuṭūṭi l-waraqi l-mulqā ʕalā l-ʔarfufi
      Her scent has not yet passed from the lines of the papers deposed on the shelves.
Declension
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Descendants
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  • Azerbaijani: rəf
  • Catalan: ràfec (eaves)
  • Persian: رف (raf)
  • Ottoman Turkish: راف (raf)
  • Swahili: rafu

Etymology 2

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Root
ر ف ف (r-f-f)

Verb

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رَفَّ (raffa) I, non-past يَرِفُّ‎ (yariffu)

  1. to gleam
Conjugation
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Verb

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رَفَّ (raffa) I, non-past يَرُفُّ or يَرِفُّ‎ (yaruffu or yariffu)

  1. to tremble, to flutter, to twitch
  2. to flicker, to glint
Conjugation
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Verb

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رَفَّ (raffa) I, non-past يَرُفُّ or يَرِفُّ‎ (yaruffu or yariffu)

  1. to serve diligently (لِ (li) someone)
Conjugation
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Noun

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رَفّ (raffm

  1. verbal noun of رَفَّ (raffa) (form I)
Declension
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References

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  • Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 13
  • Freytag, Georg (1833) “رف”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum[2] (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 170
  • Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “رف”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc[3] (in French), volume 1, Paris: Maisonneuve et Cie, page 892
  • Lane, Edward William (1863) “رف”, in Arabic-English Lexicon[4], London: Williams & Norgate, pages 1115–1116
  • Wehr, Hans (1979) “رف”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN, page 403
  • Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “رف”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart[5] (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 483

Persian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Arabic رَفّ (raff).

Pronunciation

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Readings
Classical reading? raf
Dari reading? raf
Iranian reading? raf
Tajik reading? raf

Noun

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رف (raf)

  1. shelf, ledge, rack