خفج
Arabic
Etymology
Unknown. According to Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou, which glosses as wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum), a homonymic word meaning a foot disease of camels is unrelated and the plant name is rather from Persian خفنج (xafanj, “profit, advantage; delight, blandishment”) due to a use as an appetizing snack. But this is doubtful due to the Bedouin usage.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /xa.fad͡ʒ/
Noun
خَفَج • (ḵafaj) m
- wall rocket (Diplotaxis gen. et spp.)
- nipplewort (Lapsana gen. et spp.)
- spiked centaury (Schenkia spicata)
Declension
| singular | basic singular triptote | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | construct | |
| informal | خَفَج ḵafaj |
الْخَفَج al-ḵafaj |
خَفَج ḵafaj |
| nominative | خَفَجٌ ḵafajun |
الْخَفَجُ al-ḵafaju |
خَفَجُ ḵafaju |
| accusative | خَفَجًا ḵafajan |
الْخَفَجَ al-ḵafaja |
خَفَجَ ḵafaja |
| genitive | خَفَجٍ ḵafajin |
الْخَفَجِ al-ḵafaji |
خَفَجِ ḵafaji |
Descendants
- Najdi Arabic: خفجي (ḵifjī)
References
- “خفج” in Almaany
- Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 423
- Freytag, Georg (1830) “خفج”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum[1] (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 505
- Mandaville, James Paul (2011) Bedouin Ethnobotany. Plant Concepts and Uses in a Desert Pastoral World, Tucson: University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, page 307