# رف
## Arabic
### Etymology 1

Disputed etymology:
* Natively from the root ر ف ف (r f f) in the sense of an outstretched wing being symbolic of protection, a coverlet; hence originally an awning or covering; semantically becoming a story or tier of a building as each window would feature such a cloth shelf above it. Parallel semantic conception found with Hebrew רפפות (“window shutters; a collection of layered thin strips”) and Western Neo-Aramaic ܪܦ (rap, “level, story; room, chamber”).
* Natively from the root ر ف ف (r f f) in the sense of stretching elbows out on a pillow or cushion, stemming from an outstretched wing; hence a place to place things, a place to spread things out on.
* From Aramaic found in its descendant Western Neo-Aramaic ܪܦ (rap, “level, story; room, chamber”) of uncertain etymology, but considered likely foreign or possibly even borrowed from Arabic; as for a foreign source possibly connected to Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ-.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /raff/

#### Noun

رَفّ • (raff) m (plural رُفُوف (rufūf) or أَرْفُف (ʔarfuf) or رِفَاف (rifāf))
* sill; shelf; whatnot
** p. 2000, كَرِيم مَعْتُوق (karīm maʕtūq)‎:مَا مَرَّ شَذَاهَا بِخُطُوطِ الْوَرَقِ الْمُلْقَى عَلَى الْأَرْفُفِmā marra šaḏāhā biḵuṭūṭi l-waraqi l-mulqā ʕalā l-ʔarfufiHer scent has not yet passed from the lines of the papers deposed on the shelves.

##### Descendants

* → Azerbaijani: rəf
* → Catalan: ràfec (“eaves”)
* → Persian: رف (raf)
* → Ottoman Turkish: راف (raf)
** Turkish: raf
** → Albanian: raft
** → Armenian: ըռաֆ (əṙaf), ռաֆ (ṙaf)
** → Bulgarian: рафт (raft)
** → Greek: ράφι (ráfi)
** → Romanian: raft
** → Serbo-Croatian:
    Cyrillic script: ра̏ф
    Latin script: rȁf
* → Swahili: rafu

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

رَفَّ • (raffa) I (non-past يَرِفُّ (yariffu), verbal noun رَفّ (raff) or رَفِيف (rafīf))
* to gleam

##### Conjugation
#### Verb

رَفَّ • (raffa) I (non-past يَرُفُّ (yaruffu) or يَرِفُّ (yariffu), verbal noun رَفّ (raff))
* to tremble, to flutter, to twitch
* to flicker, to glint

##### Conjugation
#### Verb

رَفَّ • (raffa) I (non-past يَرُفُّ (yaruffu) or يَرِفُّ (yariffu), verbal noun رُفُوف (rufūf) or رَفِيف (rafīf))
* to serve diligently (لِ (li) someone)

##### Conjugation
#### Noun

رَفّ • (raff) m
* verbal noun of رَفَّ (raffa) (form I)

##### Declension
### References

* Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 13
* Freytag, Georg (1833) “رف”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 170
* Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “رف”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎ (in French), volume 1, Paris: Maisonneuve et C$^{ie}$, page 892
* Lane, Edward William (1863) “رف”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate, pages 1115–1116
* Wehr, Hans (1979) “رف”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN, page 403
* Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “رف”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎ (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 483

## Persian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic رَفّ (raff).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [ɾaf]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [räf]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [räf]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [räf]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [räf]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [ɹæf]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [ɾäf]

### Noun

رف • (raf)
* shelf, ledge, rack