Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

Sign in · 7-Day Free Trial
Home › Dictionary › صفة

صُفَّةٌ

Root: صف

Full Definition

صُفَّةٌ An appertenance of a house, or of a building, like a wide بَهُو [here used in a postclassical sense, as meaning a kind of vestibule, or portico, for shade and shelter, open in front], with a long roof or ceiling; the طُرَّة of a building [app. meaning what is above described]; i. q. سَقِيفَةٌ: (S and Msb and K in art. سقف:) [see سَفِيفَةٌ; and see also سُدَّةٌ:] and i. q. ظُلَّةٌ [i. e. a roof, or covering, for shade and shelter, over the door of a house; or extending from a house to another house opposite; like سُدَّةٌ and سَقِيفَةٌ]: [for the meaning assigned to it by Golius as from the S, and by Freytag as from the K and S, I find no authority in any Arabic work: in Egypt, it is applied to a shelf of marble or of common stone, about four feet high, supported by two or more arches, or by a single arch, figured and described in the Introduction to my work on the Modern Egyptians; this being app. so called because resembling in form, though not in size, a porch:] the pl. is صُفَفٌ and صِفَافٌ and صُفَّاتٌ. أَهْلُ الصُّفَّةِ [The people of the صُفَّة] was an appellation applied to certain persons who were the guests of El-Islám, [i. e. supported by the charity of the Muslims,] consisting of poor refugees, and houseless men, who passed the night in the صُفَّة of the mosque of the Prophet [in El-Medeeneh], which was a covered place, an appertenance of the mosque, roofed over with palm-sticks; thither they resorted for lodging; and sometimes they were few, and sometimes they were many: [SM says,] I have drawn up a list of their names, in a tract, to the number of ninety-two, or ninetythree. (TA voce أَوْفَاضٌ.) [ISd says,] عَذَابُ يَوْمِ الصُّفَّةِ [The punishment of the day of the صُفَّة] is the same as عَذَابُ يَوْمِ الظُّلَّةِ [mentioned in the Kur xxvi. 189]: Lth says that the former was a day on which a certain people disobeyed their apostle, wherefore God sent upon them heat and clouds which overspread them, so that they perished: and Az says that it is not the same as that mentioned in the Kur, and that he knew not what is meant by عذاب يوم الصفّة: it seems, however, that both mean the same, as الصُّفَّةُ and الظُّلَّةُ are one in meaning.
2 Also An appertenance of the سَرْج [or horse's saddle]; like the مِيثَرَة [q. v. in art. وثر] of the رَحْل [or camel's saddle]; the thing with which it is covered, between the قَرَبُوسَانِ, which are its fore part and its hinder part: or, as also of the رَحْل, the thing that comprises within it (تَضُمُّ) the [two pieces of wood called the] عَرْقُوَتَانِ and the [two pads, or stuffed things, called the] بِدَادَانِ, above them and beneath them: pl. صُفَفٌ and صِفَافٌ, the latter mentioned by Sb.
3 Also A long period (زَمَانٌ) of time. So in the saying, عِشْنَا صُفَّةٌ مِنَ الدَّهْرِ [We lived, or have lived, a long period of time].
4 And The quantity of grain that is put upon the palm of the hand: occurring in a trad. of Abu-d-Dardà, in the saying, أَصْبَحْتُ لَا أَمْلكُ صُفَّةً وَلَا لُفَّةً [I became so that I possessed not the quantity of grain that might be put on the palm of the hand, nor a morsel of food]; اللُّفَّةُ meaning اللُّقْمَةُ.


Lane's Lexicon — The most scholarly Arabic-English dictionary available

The product of over thirty years of unrelenting labor. A work of such unique greatness that to this day it remains supreme in the field of Arabic lexicography.

✓ Full text search • ✓ Root-based navigation
✓ Advanced filters • ✓ Mobile access

Sign in · 7-Day Free Trial

Trusted by 1000+ researchers worldwide
Featured on Fons Vitae • Used by universities globally

Related Words from the Same Root

Verbs

Nouns