# زلف
## Arabic
### Etymology 1

From the root ز ل ف (z-l-f), a variant of the better-known س ل ف (s-l-f).

#### Verb

زَلَفَ • (zalafa) I (non-past يَزْلُفُ (yazlufu), verbal noun زَلْف (zalf) or زَلَف (zalaf) or زَلِيف (zalīf)) (archaic)
* to get close, to near, to advance
** 7th century CE, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Buḵāriyy, 2:34:إِذَا أَسْلَمَ الْعَبْدُ فَحَسُنَ إِسْلَامُهُ يُكَفِّرُ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ كُلَّ سَيِّئَةٍ كَانَ زَلَفَهَاʔiḏā ʔaslama l-ʕabdu faḥasuna ʔislāmuhu yukaffiru llāhu ʕanhu kulla sayyiʔatin kāna zalafahāI someone becomes muslim sincerely then Allah remits all [sins] that he has come near.

##### Conjugation
#### Verb

زَلَّفَ • (zallafa) II (non-past يُزَلِّفُ (yuzallifu), verbal noun تَزْلِيف (tazlīf)) (archaic)
* to do it before, to execute earlier
* to exaggerate, to fudge

##### Conjugation
#### Noun

زَلْف • (zalf) m (archaic)
* verbal noun of زَلَفَ (zalafa) (form I)

##### Declension
#### Noun

زَلَف • (zalaf) m (archaic)
* verbal noun of زَلَفَ (zalafa) (form I)
* grovelling, flattery by coming close in a respect

##### Declension
#### Noun

زُلَف • (zulaf) pl (archaic)
* plural of زُلْفَة (zulfa)

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Classical Syriac ܙܠܦܐ (zalpā, zelpā), singulative ܙܠܦܬܐ (zlap̄ṯă, zelpǝṯā, “shard; mother of pearl”).

#### Noun

زَلَف or زِلْف • (zalaf or zilf) m (collective, singulative زَلَفة f (zalafa) or زِلْفَة (zilfa)) (obsolete)
* mother-of-pearl-shell
** 7th century CE, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 54:134:ثُمَّ يُرْسِلُ اللّٰهُ مَطَرًا لَا يَكُنُّ مِنْهُ بَيْتُ مَدَرٍ وَلَا وَبَرٍ فَيَغْسِلُ الأَرْضَ حَتَّى يَتْرُكَهَا كَالزَّلَفَةِṯumma yursilu llāhu maṭaran lā yakunnu minhu baytu madarin walā wabarin fayaḡsilu l-ʔarḍa ḥattā yatrukahā ka-z-zalafatiThen God will send rain and there will be no brickhouse and no tent and he washes the earth, so that he leaves it blank like a nacre-shell.

##### Declension
#### References

* Ullmann, Manfred (1992) Das Motiv des Spiegels in der arabischen Literatur des Mittelalters (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen: Philologisch-historische Klasse; 198) (in German), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pages 22–24, he notes and definitely proves with poet citations that the other meanings given in the dictionaries are imaginary.
* “zlph”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–

## Ottoman Turkish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Persian زلف (zolf, “curl, tress”).

### Noun

زلف • (zülf)
* lovelock, a lock of hair that hangs down and is worn apart from the hair that remains

#### Derived terms

* زلف زمین (zülf-i zemin, “the darkness of night”)
* زلف عروس (zülf-i ʿarus, “snailflower”)
* زلفلو (zülflü, “adorned with lovelocks”)

#### Descendants

* Turkish: zülüf
* → Albanian: zylyfe
* → Armenian: զիւլիւֆ (ziwliwf), զըլիֆ (zəlif)
* → Bulgarian: сколуфа (skolufa)
* → Romanian: zuluf
* → Serbo-Croatian:
** Cyrillic script: зулуфи
** Latin script: zulufi

### Further reading

* Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “zülüf”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 5507
* Hindoglu, Artin (1838) “زلف”, in Hazine-i lûgat ou dictionnaire abrégé turc-français‎, Vienna: F. Beck, page 257a
* Kélékian, Diran (1911) “زلف”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, page 645
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Cirrus”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎, Vienna, column 185
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “زلف”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, columns 2459-2460
* Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “zülüf”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
* Redhouse, James W. (1890) “زلف”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1012

## Persian
### Etymology

Belonging to زلفی (zolfi, “door-ring by which the chain is fastened”), زلفین (zolfin, “door-ring; curl, tress”), زرفین (zorfin, “door-ring”), which last has also been borrowed in Arabic زُرْفِين (zurfīn, “ring; bolt or ring of a door; column capital particularly with volutes”), زُرُّوف (zurrūf, “curl in the hair”), denominal زَرْفَنَ (zarfana, “to crook, to make curly; to mark with a figure of a ring or curl”). Their original is recorded as زفرین (zofrin), which relates to Avestan 𐬰𐬠𐬀𐬭 (zbar, “to walk crooked”), 𐬰𐬠𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬚𐬀 (zbaraθa, “foot”), 𐬰𐬠𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬵 (zbarah, “hill”), Sanskrit ह्वृ (hvṛ, “to be crooked or bent”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [zulf]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zʊlf]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zʊlf]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [zʊlf]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [zulf]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [zolf]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [zulf]

### Noun

| Dari | زلف |
| Iranian Persian | زلف |
| Tajik | зулф |
زلف • (zolf)
* curl, tress
    تیره زلف ― tire zolf ― dark hair
** c. 800 CE, Firooz :سرو سیمین ترا در مشک تر زلف فرخالت ز سر تا پا گرفت

#### Derived terms

* زلف بافته (zolf bâfte, “a braid”)

#### Descendants

* → Armenian: զըլիֆ (zəlif), զիլիֆ (zilif), զուլֆ (zulf), զյուլֆ (zyulf)
* → Azerbaijani: zülf
* → Bengali: জুলফি (zulfi)
* → Gujarati: જુલફું (julphũ)
* → Hindustani:
** Hindi: ज़ुल्फ़ (zulf)
** Urdu: زلف (zulf)
* → Khalaj: zulf
* → Northern Kurdish: zulf, zilf, zilif
* → Ottoman Turkish: زلف (zülüf, zülf)
** Turkish: zülüf
** → Albanian: zylyfe
** → Armenian: զիւլիւֆ (ziwliwf), զըլիֆ (zəlif)
** → Bulgarian: сколуфа (skolufa)
** → Romanian: zuluf
** → Serbo-Croatian:
*** Cyrillic script: зулуфи
*** Latin script: zulufi
* → Punjabi: ਜ਼ੁਲਫ਼ (zulaf), زلف (zulf)
* → Crimean Tatar: zuluf

### References

* Bartholomae, Christian (1904) Altiranisches Wörterbuch [Old Iranian Dictionary]‎ (in German), Strassburg: K. J. Trübner, column 1699
* Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar (1931–) “زلف”, in Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute, editors, Dehkhoda Dictionary (in Persian), Tehran: University of Tehran Press
* Monchi-Zadeh, Davoud (1990) Wörter aus Xurāsān und ihre Herkunft (Acta Iranica; 29)‎ (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 208 Nr. 611
* Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892) “زلف”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul
* Vullers, Johann August (1856–1864) “زلف”, in Lexicon Persico-Latinum etymologicum cum linguis maxime cognatis Sanscrita et Zendica et Pehlevica comparatum, e lexicis persice scriptis Borhâni Qâtiu, Haft Qulzum et Bahâri agam et persico-turcico Farhangi-Shuûrî confectum, adhibitis etiam Castelli, Meninski, Richardson et aliorum operibus et auctoritate scriptorum Persicorum adauctum‎ (in Latin), volume II, Gießen: J. Ricker, page 138