# دفتر
## Arabic
### Etymology

Probably via Middle Persian dptl (daftar), from Aramaic דפתרא / ܕܦܬܪܐ, from Ancient Greek διφθέρα (diphthéra).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /daf.tar/

### Noun

دَفْتَر • (daftar) m (plural دَفَاتِر (dafātir))
* register; roster
* notebook; copybook; exercise book

#### Descendants

* → Afar: daftár
* → Azerbaijani: dəftər
* → Bashkir: дәфтәр (dəftər)
* → Fula: deftere
* → Malay: daftar
** → Indonesian: daftar
* → Kazakh: дәптер (däpter)
* → Kyrgyz: дептер (depter)
* → Ottoman Turkish: دفتر (defter)
** Turkish: defter
** → Bulgarian: тефте́р (teftér)
** → Crimean Tatar: defter
** → English: defter
** → Greek: τεφτέρι (teftéri)
** → Ladino: tefter
** → Macedonian: тефтер (tefter)
** → Romanian: tefter
** → Serbo-Croatian:
    Cyrillic script: де̏фтер
    Latin script: dȅfter
* → Persian: دفتر (daftar)
** → Punjabi:
    Gurmukhi script: ਦਫ਼ਤਰ (daftar)
    Shahmukhi script: دفتر (daftar)
** → Tibetan: དེབ་ཐེར་ (deb ther)
* → Turkmen: depder
* → Uyghur: دەپتەر (depter)
* → Uzbek: daftar

### References

* Wehr, Hans (1979) “دفتر”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN
* ↑ "Daftar" in Bernard Lewis (1991), Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, volume 2: C-G, edited by B. Lewis, Ch. Pellat and J. Schacht, assisted by J. Burton-Page, C. Dumont and V.L. Ménage, Leiden: E. J. Brill, →ISBN, page 77b “[I]n view of the testimony of the Arab authors, it is probable that the word reached Arabic via Persian.”

## Ottoman Turkish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic دَفْتَر (daftar, “register; notebook”), from Aramaic דהפתּיר (defter), ultimately from Ancient Greek διφθέρα (diphthéra)

### Noun

دفتر • (defter) (plural دفاتر (defatir))
* register, ledger, a book used for the inscription of lists, accounts, etc.
    Synonym: جریده (ceride)
* notebook, rough book, a book in which notes and memoranda are written
    Synonym: سفینه (sefine)
* roll, catalogue, list, inventory, especially the ones kept for official purposes
    Synonym: پوصوله (pusula)

#### Derived terms

* دفتر امینی (defter emini, “chief officer of the Finance Department”)
* دفتر خاقانی (defter hakani, “Cadastre Department”)
* دفترخانه (defterhane, “cadastre office”)
* دفتردار (defterdar, “keeper of any register”)
* دفتری (defteri, “pertaining to a register”)

#### Descendants

* Turkish: defter
* → Bulgarian: тефте́р (teftér)
* → Crimean Tatar: defter
* → English: defter
* → Greek: τεφτέρι (teftéri)
* → Ladino: tefter
* → Macedonian: тефтер (tefter)
* → Romanian: tefter
* → Serbo-Croatian:
    Cyrillic script: де̏фтер
    Latin script: dȅfter

### Further reading

* Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “defter”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 1126
* Hindoglu, Artin (1838) “دفتر”, in Hazine-i lûgat ou dictionnaire abrégé turc-français‎, Vienna: F. Beck, page 225a
* Kélékian, Diran (1911) “دفتر”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, page 574
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Registrum”, 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 1453
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “دفتر”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, column 2096
* Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “defter”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
* Redhouse, James W. (1890) “دفتر”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 906

## Persian
### Etymology

Inherited from Middle Persian [script needed] (dptl /⁠daftar⁠/), from Aramaic דפתרא / ܕܦܬܪܐ, from Ancient Greek διφθέρα (diphthéra). The learned plural دفاتر (dafâter) is re-borrowed from Arabic.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [daf.ˈtaɾ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [d̪äf.t̪ʰǽɾ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [d̪äf.t̪ʰǽɾ]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [d̪äf.t̪ʰǽɾ]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [d̪äf.t̪ʰǽɾ]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [d̪æf.t̪ʰǽɹ]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [d̪äf.t̪ʰǽɾ]
* Audio (Iran):(file)

### Noun

دفتر • (daftar) (plural دفترها (daftar-hâ) or دفاتر (dafâter))
* register, account book
    وارد دفتر کردنvâred-e daftar kardanto register, to make an entry in the account book
* notebook, journal
    دفتر خاطرات روزانهdaftar-e xâterât-e ruzânepersonal journal(literally, “notebook of daily thoughts”)
** c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 162”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎:بشوی اوراق اگر همدرس مایی که علم عشق در دفتر نباشدbišōy awrāq agar hamdars-i mā-yī ki ilm-i išq dar daftar na-bāšadWash away the pages if you are our classmate, For the science of love is not in the notebooks.(Classical Persian transliteration)
* office, office building
    رفتم دفترم ― raftam daftar-am ― I went to my office

#### Descendants

* → Punjabi:
    Gurmukhi script: ਦਫ਼ਤਰ (daftar)
    Shahmukhi script: دفتر (daftar)

### References

* Bailey, H. W. (1933) “Western Iranian Dialects”, in Transactions of the Philological Society, volume 32, number 1, page 50
* http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daftar-mid

## Urdu
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian دَفْتَر (daftar).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Urdu) IPA: /d̪əf.t̪əɾ/
* Rhymes: -əɾ

### Noun

دَفْتَر • (daftar) m (Hindi spelling दफ़्तर)
* office, workplace

#### Declension
### References

* “دفتر”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
* “دفتر”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.