سلحفاة

Arabic
سُلَحْفَاة

Etymology

Probably derived from an unattested Aramaic form akin to Classical Syriac ܣܠܘܦܝܬܐ (sallōp̄īṯā), Hebrew שַׁלְחוּפָה (šalḥūp̄ā, “tortoise”), from Akkadian 𒃻𒅮𒈾 (šeleppûm, “turtle, snake; a shell, egg, canister”). Distortion of the Akkadian form in either Aramaic or Arabic after native roots such as س ل ح (s-l-ḥ), س ل خ (s-l-ḵ), and ز ح ل (z-ḥ-l) is likely, as with many terms for organisms encountered only at special occasions (see exemplarily Russian берескле́т (beresklét, “spindle tree”)); Arabic vernaculars offer forms like سُحَلْفَاة (suḥalfāh), زُلَحْفَاة (zulaḥfāh), زَحَلْفَة (zaḥalfa) and زِلَحْفَة (zilaḥfa). Compare the variants of سَرَطَان (saraṭān, “crab”) for a similar case.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /su.laħ.faːh/

Noun

سُلَحْفَاة • (sulaḥfāh) f (plural سَلَاحِف (salāḥif))

  1. turtle
  2. ellipsis of سُلَحْفَاة بَرِّيَّة (sulaḥfā(t) barriyya, “tortoise”).

Declension
Declension of noun سُلَحْفَاة (sulaḥfāh)
Singular singular triptote in ـَاة (-āh)
Indefinite Definite Construct
Informal سُلَحْفَاة
sulaḥfāt		 السُّلَحْفَاة
as-sulaḥfāt		 سُلَحْفَاة
sulaḥfāt
Nominative سُلَحْفَاةٌ
sulaḥfātun		 السُّلَحْفَاةُ
as-sulaḥfātu		 سُلَحْفَاةُ
sulaḥfātu
Accusative سُلَحْفَاةً
sulaḥfātan		 السُّلَحْفَاةَ
as-sulaḥfāta		 سُلَحْفَاةَ
sulaḥfāta
Genitive سُلَحْفَاةٍ
sulaḥfātin		 السُّلَحْفَاةِ
as-sulaḥfāti		 سُلَحْفَاةِ
sulaḥfāti
Dual Indefinite Definite Construct
Informal سُلَحْفَاتَيْن
sulaḥfātayn		 السُّلَحْفَاتَيْن
as-sulaḥfātayn		 سُلَحْفَاتَيْ
sulaḥfātay
Nominative سُلَحْفَاتَانِ
sulaḥfātāni		 السُّلَحْفَاتَانِ
as-sulaḥfātāni		 سُلَحْفَاتَا
sulaḥfātā
Accusative سُلَحْفَاتَيْنِ
sulaḥfātayni		 السُّلَحْفَاتَيْنِ
as-sulaḥfātayni		 سُلَحْفَاتَيْ
sulaḥfātay
Genitive سُلَحْفَاتَيْنِ
sulaḥfātayni		 السُّلَحْفَاتَيْنِ
as-sulaḥfātayni		 سُلَحْفَاتَيْ
sulaḥfātay
Plural basic broken plural diptote
Indefinite Definite Construct
Informal سَلَاحِف
salāḥif		 السَّلَاحِف
as-salāḥif		 سَلَاحِف
salāḥif
Nominative سَلَاحِفُ
salāḥifu		 السَّلَاحِفُ
as-salāḥifu		 سَلَاحِفُ
salāḥifu
Accusative سَلَاحِفَ
salāḥifa		 السَّلَاحِفَ
as-salāḥifa		 سَلَاحِفَ
salāḥifa
Genitive سَلَاحِفَ
salāḥifa		 السَّلَاحِفِ
as-salāḥifi		 سَلَاحِفِ
salāḥifi

Descendants
  • → Mehri: salefḥōt

References
  • سلحفاة on the Arabic Wikipedia.Wikipedia ar
  • Militarev, Alexander, Kogan, Leonid (2005) Semitic Etymological Dictionary, volume II: Animal Names, Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 265–266 Nr. 202, tends towards cognateship, however deems the Syriac likely borrowed from Akkadian and the Mehri an Arabism (not considering the etymon of the Arabic just being lost, oddly also not mentioning the Hebrew form).
  • Siddiqi, Abdussattar (1919) Studien über die Persischen Fremdwörter im klassischen Arabisch (in German), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, page 72 interprets as Persian سولاخ (sulâx) ~ سوراخ (surâx, “hole opening”) + پا (pâ, “foot”)
  • Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “سلحفاة”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎ (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 586

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic سُلَحْفَاة (sulaḥfāh).

Noun

سلحفاة • (sulaḥfā) f (plural سلاحف (salāḥef))

  1. (formal) tortoise, turtle
    Synonym: قرقعة (ʔurʔaʕa)
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