Moon letter
Under moon letters ( Arabic حروف قمرية, DMG ḥurūf qamariyya ) one understands those letters of the Arabic alphabet that come together with the certain Arabic articleال( al- ) do not assimilate his / l / , e.g. B.القمر al-qamar "the moon". They are in contrast to the sun letters that assimilate, e.g. B.الشمس aš-šams "the sun".
The 14 moon letters are, each with an example word (the translation in brackets):
- Alif :الأب / al-ʾab (the father)
- Bāʾ :الباب / al-bāb (the door)
- Ǧīm :الجزيرة / al-ǧazīra (the island)
- Ḥāʾ :الحرف / al-ḥarf (the cutting edge, the edge, the edge; the letter)
- Ḫāʾ :الخوف / al-ḫauf (the fear)
- ʿAin :العرب / al-ʿarab (the Arabs)
- Ġayn :الغرب / al-ġarb (the west)
- Fāʾ :الفم / al-fam (the mouth)
- Qāf :القمر / al-qamar (the moon)
- Kāf :الكتاب / al-kitāb (the book)
- Mīm :الموت / al-maut (death)
- Hāʾ :الهلال / al-hilāl (the crescent moon, the crescent moon)
- Wāw :الولد / al-walad (the child, the son)
- Yāʾ :اليمني / al-yamanī (the Yemenite)