زرافة

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See also: زرافه

Arabic

Etymology 1

    From Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐ (zārīp̄ā), variant of ܙܪܢܦܐ (zarnāp̄ā); ultimately from Classical Persian زُرنَاپَا (zurnāpā), a compound of زُرنَا (zurnā, flute, zurna) and پَا (, leg).

    Not a cognate of Ge'ez ዘራት (zärat), ዛራት (zarat), Tigre ዝዖታ (zəʿota), Tigrinya ዝዖታ (zəʿota), Blin ድዖታ (dəʿṓtā), Saho ዞዖታ (zoʿṓtā), Amharic ጅራተ ቀጭን (ǧəratä ḳäč̣č̣ən, literally thin-tail), Somali geri, Saho ገረ (garā), Afar garaa, Xamtanga jeraa, all meaning “giraffe” and referring to its remarkable “tail”, Amharic ጅራት (ǧərat).

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /za.raː.fa/, /zu.raː.fa/

    Noun

    زَرَافَة or زُرَافَة (zarāfa or zurāfaf (plural زَرَافَى (zarāfā) or زُرَافَى (zurāfā) or زَرَائِف (zarāʔif) or زَرَاف (zarāf))

    1. giraffe (mammal)
    Declension
    Descendants

    Etymology 2

    From the concept of a giraffe being an amalgam of several animals jointly; compare Persian شترگاوپلنگ (šotorgâvpalang, giraffe, literally camel-ox-leopard) and Ancient Greek καμηλοπάρδαλῐς (kamēlopárdalis, giraffe).

    Noun

    زَرَافَة (zarāfaf (plural زَرَافَات (zarāfāt))

    1. group of people, cluster of people, body of people
      زَرَافَاتٍ وَ‌وُحْدَانًاzarāfātin wa-wuḥdānanjointly and severally; in groups and alone
    Declension

    References

    • Hommel, Fritz (1879) Die Namen der Säugethiere bei den südsemitischen Völkern als Beiträge zur arabischen und äthiopischen Lexicographie, zur semitischen Kulturforschung und Sprachvergleichung und zur Geschichte der Mittelmeerfauna. Mit steter Berücksichtigung auch der assyrischen und hebräischen Thiernamen und geographischen und literaturgeschichtlichen Excursen (in German), Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung, pages 230–231
    • Lagarde, Paul de (1866) Gesammelte Abhandlungen (in German), Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, page 47
    • Lane, Edward William (1863) “زرافة”, in Arabic-English Lexicon, London: Williams & Norgate, pages 1226–1227
    • Leslau, Wolf (1991) Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 644
    • Nöldeke, Theodor (1910) Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, page 57