Moon letter

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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 Arabic alphabet with the moon letters (black)

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)