s y f
17 lemmas · 7 languages
hollow (II-weak)Middle consonant is w or y. The vowel contracts in the perfect (q-w-l → qāla 'said'), producing a 'hollow' surface. Known as mediae infirmae.𐡀 tg. Jon. Judg 19:27
Themes:sword·7blade·2foil·2sayf·2
POS shape:noun·14verb·2name·1
This root is attested across 7 Semitic languages in our index. Each section below shows representative lemmas; attested means a Wiktionary editor explicitly tagged the root, inferredmeans we derived it mechanically from the word's consonantal skeleton.
Etymology treehow this root diverged from Proto-Semitic through the family
*s-w-pProto-Semitic
West Semitic
Central Semitic
Northwest Semitic
Canaanite
Hebrewסַיִףס י פ— foil, fencing sword
Aramaic
Imperial Aramaicסֵיפָאס י פ— end, distant region
Syriacܣܝܦܐܣ ܝ ܦ— sword, blade
Assyrian NAܣܝܼܦܘܿܣ ܝ ܦ— a male given name, diminutive of ܝܲܘܣܸܦ (yawsip, “Joseph”)
Arabic
Arabicسَيْفس ي ف— sword, sabre, foil, rapier, scimitar
South Semitic
Ethio-Semitic
Ge'ezሰይፍሰ የ ፈ— sword
Amharicሰይፍሰ የ ፈ— sword
Branch structure: Huehnergard (2005), Rubin (2010). The reconstructed Proto-Semitic form is computed on the fly from the cognate set's majority reflex pattern.
Imperial Aramaic
arc · 4 lemmas- end, distant region
- sword, blade
- alternative spelling of סִפָּא (sippā, “threshold; doorpost”)
- lipFrom Proto-Semitic *śapat-.
Classical Syriac
syc · 1 lemma- sword, bladeCompare Amharic ሰይፍ (säyf), Arabic سَيْف (sayf), Hebrew סַיִף (sáyip̄), Maltese sejf, and Ancient Greek ξίφος (xíphos).
▸ 1 derivation
- derivedܣܝܦܘܢܐsaypōnā
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
aii · 1 lemma- a male given name, diminutive of ܝܲܘܣܸܦ (yawsip, “Joseph”)Diminutive and nickname of ܝܲܘܣܸܦ (yawsip, “Joseph”) + -ܘܿ (-ō)
Hebrew
he · 1 lemma- foil, fencing swordCompare Aramaic סיפא / ܣܝܦܐ (saypā), Arabic سَيْف (sayf), Safaitic 𐪊𐪐 (s¹f /sayp/), Amharic ሰይፍ (säyf), Ancient Greek ξίφος (xíphos).
▸ 1 derivation
- relatedחֶרֶבkhérev
Arabic
ar · 8 lemmas- sword, sabre, foil, rapier, scimitarRelated to Ancient Greek ξίφος (xíphos); either a loan, or from a common original source.
- coast
- swordsman, person using a sword as a weaponOccupational noun from سَيْف (sayf, “sword”)
- plural of سَيْف (sayf)
- plural of سَيْف (sayf)
- verbal noun of سَوَّفَ (sawwafa) (form II)
Ge'ez
gez · 1 lemma- swordEither a loan from Ancient Greek ξίφος (xíphos), or from a common original source. The same word is probably preserved in Egyptian zft, Coptic ⲥⲏϥⲉ (sēfe).
Amharic
am · 1 lemma- swordLikely from Ge'ez ሰይፍ (säyf).