تأليف

تَأْلِيف • (taʔlīf) m (plural تَأْلِيفَات (taʔlīfāt) or تَآلِيف (taʔālīf))

1. verbal noun of أَلَّفَ (ʔallafa) (form II)
2. a work of literature or art
   • 1377, Ibn Khaldun, “فصل في أن كثرة التآليف في العلوم عائقة عن التحصيل”, in Étienne Marc Quatremère, editor, مُقَدِّمَة اِبْن خَلْدُون [muqaddimat ibn ḵaldūn], volume 2 (paperback), Damascus, Syria: دَار اَلتَّنَوُّع الثَّقَافِيّ [dār at-tanawwuʕ aṯ-ṯaqāfiyy], published 2021, →ISBN, page 464:

     اِعْلَمْ أَنَّ مِمَّا أَضَرَّ بِٱلنَّاسِ فِي تَحْصِيلِ ٱلْعِلْمِ وَٱلْوُقُوفِ عَلَى غَايَاتِهِ كَثْرَةَ ٱلتَّآلِيفِ وَٱخْتِلَافَ ٱلِٱصْطِلَاحَاتِ فِي ٱلتَّعْلِيمِ وَتَعَدُّدَ طُرُقِهَا ثُمَّ مُطَالَبَةَ الْمُتَعَلِّمِ وَٱلتِّلْمِيذِ بِٱسْتِحْضَارِ ذٰلِكَ.

     iʕlam ʔanna mimmā ʔaḍarra bi-n-nāsi fī taḥṣīli l-ʕilmi wal-wuqūfi ʕalā ḡāyātihi kaṯrata t-taʔālīfi waḵtilāfa l-iṣṭilāḥāti fī t-taʕlīmi wataʕadduda ṭuruqihā ṯumma muṭālabata l-mutaʕallimi wat-tilmīḏi bistiḥḍāri ḏālika.

     It should be known that among the things that are harmful to the human quest for knowledge and to the attainment of a thorough scholarship are the great number of works (available), the large variety in technical terminology (needed for purposes) of instruction, and the numerous (different) methods (used in those works). The student is required to have a ready knowledge of (all) that.

     Translated by Franz Rosenthal