الف

See also: ألف, الق, and ألق

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic أَلِف (ʔalif).

Noun

الف • (elif)

alif
something shaped like an alif

Descendants

Turkish: elif

References

Redhouse, James W. (1890) “الف”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[1], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 187

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic أَلِف (ʔalif).

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [ʔa.lif]

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔä.lɪf]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ʔä.lɪf]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ʔä.lif]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔæ.lef]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔä.lif]

Readings
Classical reading^?	alif
Dari reading^?	alif
Iranian reading^?	alef
Tajik reading^?	alif

Noun


Iranian Persian	اَلِف
Dari	اَلِف
Tajik	алиф

اَلِف • (alef)

alif (the letter , the first letter of the Persian and Arabic abjads)
- c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume I, verse 1514:
  ما که‌‌ایم اندر جهان پیچ پیچ
  چون الف او خود چه دارد هیچ هیچ
  mā ki-ēm andar jahān-i pēč pēč
  čūn alif ō xwad či dārad hēč hēč
  Who are we? In this tangled world
  What [thing other than He] indeed hath He [who is single] like alif? Nothing, nothing.
  (Classical Persian transliteration)
(figurative) something or someone erect and tall like the letter ; (in particular) the beautiful, slender stature of the beloved
- c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 317”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎^[2]:
  نیست بر لوحِ دلم جز الفِ قامتِ دوست
  چه کنم حرفِ دگر یاد نداد استادم
  nēst bar lawh-i dil-am juz alif-i qāmat-i dōst
  či kunam harf-i digar yād na-dād ustād-am
  The tablet of my heart has nothing [written] on it but the alif of my love's figure;
  What can I do? My master taught me no other letter.
  (Classical Persian transliteration)
- c. 1520, Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benedek Péri, The Persian Dīvān of Yavuz Sulṭān Selīm, Budapest, Hungary: Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, →ISBN, page 188:
  بدل از خار خار هجر الف‌ها
  من دیوانه را سرو سمن بس
  ba-dil az xār xār-i hajr-i alif-hā
  man-i dēwāna rā sarw-i saman bas
  The affliction to the heart from bidding the alifs [slender beauties] farewell
  Is enough of jasmine cypresses [beauties as slender as cypresses and beautiful as jasmines] for me, the madman.
  (Classical Persian transliteration)

Derived terms

→ Hindustani:
Hindi: अलिफ़ (alif)

Urdu: اَلِف (alif)

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian (alif), from Arabic أَلِف (ʔalif).

Pronunciation

(Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ə.lɪf/

Noun

الِف • (alif) m (Hindi spelling अलिफ़)

name of the first letter of the Urdu alphabet; alif

Declension

Declension of **الف**
	singular	plural
direct	الِف (alif)	الِف (alif)
oblique	الِف (alif)	الِفوں (alifõ)
vocative	الِف (alif)	الِفو (alifo)

References

Platts, John T. (1884) “الف”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.