سَالِفٌ
Root: سلف
Full Definition
سَالِفٌ
Passing; passing away; coming to an end, or to nought; becoming cut off: and going before; preceding: pl. سُلَّافٌ and [quasi-pl. n.] سَلَفٌ: see سَلَفٌ, first sentence, in four places. [Hence,] الأُمَمُ
السَّالِفَةُ
The peoples going before, or preceding, [or that have gone, or passed away, before,] those remaining, or continuing: pl. سَوَالِفُ. One says, كَانَ ذٰلِكَ فِى الأُمَمِ السَّالِفَةِ
وَالقُرُونِ السَّوَالِفِ [That was in the time of the preceding peoples, and the preceding generations]: the pl. in this instance being used because every portion of the قرون is termed سَالِفَةٌ. [Hence also,] العَسْكَرِ سُلَّافٌ, in the K, by implication, العسكر, the former word like غُرَاب, whereas it is correctly like رُمَّان, The van of the army, as expl. in the K.
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