لصف

See also: لصق

Arabic

Alternative forms

أَصَف (ʔaṣaf), نَصَف (naṣaf)

Etymology

A metathesized borrowing from Aramaic, since, while in Hebrew, in which the standard term for the caper is צָלָף (ṣālā́p̄), the root is unused, the Aramaic root צ־ל־ף / ܨ ܠ ܦ forms meanings related to splittings and cracks, which refers to the bursting ripening caperberry; though the pertinent noun meaning a caper is only scarcely attested in Aramaic as נִצְפָא (niṣp̄ā) and ܢܹܝܨܦܵܐ (nēṣp̄ā) – a distortion of the consonants least common for this etymon in Arabic – because this native Aramaic term had been ousted by the كَبَر (kabar) type word for the caper. The Arabic شَفَلَّح (šafallaḥ, “capper”) can also plausibly be derived from a root for splittings and cracks.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /la.sˤaf/

Noun

لَصَف • (laṣaf) m

caper (Capparis gen. and especially Capparis spinosa, as well as the edible buds from it)
Synonyms: كَبَر (kabar), شَفَلَّح (šafallaḥ), عِتْر (ʕitr)
- a. 1283, Abū Yahyā Zakariyāʾ ibn Muhammad al-Qazwīnīy, edited by Ferdinand Wüstenfeld, عجائب المخلوقات وغرائب الموجودات [ʿajāʾib al-maḵlūqāt wa-ḡarāʾib al-mawjūdāt]‎^[1], Göttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung, published 1849, →DOI, pages 296–297:

Declension

Declension of noun **لَصَف** (laṣaf)
singular	basic singular triptote
singular	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	لَصَف laṣaf	اللَّصَف al-laṣaf	لَصَف laṣaf
nominative	لَصَفٌ laṣafun	اللَّصَفُ al-laṣafu	لَصَفُ laṣafu
accusative	لَصَفًا laṣafan	اللَّصَفَ al-laṣafa	لَصَفَ laṣafa
genitive	لَصَفٍ laṣafin	اللَّصَفِ al-laṣafi	لَصَفِ laṣafi

References

“ṣlp”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
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 1151, knows also لَصِيف (laṣīf, “artichoke thistle (Cynara cardunculus), Cynara baetica, common golden thistle (Scolymus hispanicus)”) and derives from ص ف ف (ṣ f f) without giving a reason or what would be exactly in rows.
Freytag, Georg (1837) “لصف”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[2] (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 104
Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “لصف”, 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 3, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, page 993
Löw, Immanuel (1928) Die Flora der Juden‎^[4] (in German), volume 1, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, pages 322–331
Löw, Immanuel (1881) Aramæische Pflanzennamen‎^[5] (in German), Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, →DOI, pages 262–265