شفلح

Arabic

Etymology

While the shape suggests a Hurrian plant name, the ending is rather part of an Aramaic root פ־ל־ח / ܦ-ܠ-ܚ (p-l-ḥ) (as in فَلَّاح (fallāḥ)) or פ־ר־ח / ܦ-ܪ-ܚ (p-r-ḥ), which have been used for plant capsules bursting open such as the developing caperberry does; Aramaic פׅרְחָא (pirḥā) / ܦܲܪܚܵܐ (parḥā) is specifically attested as meaning caper. Compare parallel developments in لَصَف (laṣaf, “caper”); and indeed عِتْر (ʕitr, “caper; Glossonema varians”) is from a root used for slit offerings. The leading syllable in the present Arabic word is the Proto-Semitic causative prefix *ša-.

Noun

شَفَلَّح • (šafallaḥ) m

1. caper (Capparis spinosa and its produce)

   Synonyms: كَبَر (kabar), عِتْر (ʕitr), لَصَف (laṣaf)

Declension

Declension of noun شَفَلَّح (šafallaḥ)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	شَفَلَّح šafallaḥ	الشَّفَلَّح aš-šafallaḥ	شَفَلَّح šafallaḥ
Nominative	شَفَلَّحٌ šafallaḥun	الشَّفَلَّحُ aš-šafallaḥu	شَفَلَّحُ šafallaḥu
Accusative	شَفَلَّحًا šafallaḥan	الشَّفَلَّحَ aš-šafallaḥa	شَفَلَّحَ šafallaḥa
Genitive	شَفَلَّحٍ šafallaḥin	الشَّفَلَّحِ aš-šafallaḥi	شَفَلَّحِ šafallaḥi

References

• Löw, Immanuel (1928) Die Flora der Juden‎^[1] (in German), volume 1, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, pages 322–331
• Löw, Immanuel (1881) Aramæische Pflanzennamen‎^[2] (in German), Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, pages 262–265, especially 264
• Mandaville, James Paul (2011) Bedouin Ethnobotany. Plant Concepts and Uses in a Desert Pastoral World, Tuscon: University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, page 277