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^[1] (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)