asif

See also: Asif and as if

Kabyle

Noun

asif m

river
wadi

Inflection

Inflection of **asif**
	singular	plural
Free state	asif	isaffen
Construct state	wasif	yisaffen

Tashelhit

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Berber *asif (“river”), or *asuf (“river”)^[1]

Compare Kabyle asif (“river”), Northern Saharan Berber suf (“river”) and Central Atlas Tamazight ⴰⵙⵉⴼ (asif, “river”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /asif/

Noun

asif m (construct state wasif, plural isaffn, Tifinagh spelling ⴰⵙⵉⴼ, Arabic spelling آسيف)

river, wadi
iġ ingi wasif n sus, ur at t izgr yan. ― when the Wad sus rises, no one can cross it.

Inflection

Inflection of **asif**
	singular	plural
free state	asif	isaffn
construct state	wasif	isaffn

Derived terms

asif n ignwan (“Milky way”)
asif n walim (“Milky way”)
ilis n wasif (“malaria”)

References

^ Marijn van Putten (2011), Nouns of the CVC and CC type in Berber (Thesis), The Netherlands: Leiden University, page 43

Stroomer, Harry (2025), Dictionnaire berbère tachelḥiyt-français — Tome 1 a—e (Handbook of Oriental Studies – Handbuch der Orientalistik; 188/1) (in French), Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 419b

Volscian

Etymology

Unknown. In the Umbrian, the Italic ending "-ns" transformed into the accusative plural form "-f." Thus, this term has been interpreted as an accusative plural to ensure consistency with Umbrian linguistic developments. The original form of the term, in an older variant of Volscian, may have been *āsins. It may also be connected to Latin assēs, Latin ovēs, Latin ārās, or Latin asserēs. Another proposal holds that the term is a participle form cognate to Latin ārēns (“drying, withering”), Latin assāns (“roasting”), and Umbrian aso. If so, it would derive from Proto-Italic *assos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ed-. The linguist Blanca María Prósper suggested that the term may connect to a Proto-Italic or Pre-Proto-Italic verb phrase reconstructed as "*atˢtom ferō."

Noun

asif (accusative plural)

The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include: coins, sheep, beams, altars

Participle

asif (past passive participle nominative singular)

The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include: burned, roasted

References

1951, James W. Poultney, “Volscians and Umbrians”, in The American Journal of Philology‎^[1], volume 72, number 2, →DOI, →ISSN, page 114:
2022, Blanca María Prósper, “The Tabula Veliterna: a sacred law from Central Italy”, in Rivista Italiana di Linguistica e dialettologia‎^[2], number XXIV (quotation in English; overall work in English), pages 23-25:
1897, Robert Seymour Conway, The Italic Dialects: Edited with a Grammar and Glossary‎^[3] (quotation in English; overall work in English), Cambridge University Press, page 602:

[1] Marijn van Putten (2011), Nouns of the CVC and CC type in Berber (Thesis), The Netherlands: Leiden University, page 43

[1]