n. (m.)
1. одеяло, покрывало; 2. верблюжий чепрак (покрывало, надеваемое под седло)
بطانية, لحاف؛ حلس، عُدّة الإبل
1.
a. ŝínik ˁouyέghɛn di-ˀérge ḷe-ŝḥaf di-kítɛḷ ˁeʸh márdof wa-kómboľ kor yeḥámoẓ̂ ‘I saw a boy who had taken coverlets off of some milk, which was in a leather vessel that had been covered with coverlets and blankets to make it sour’ (CSOL III 5:48)
2.
a. ˁö́ḳaḷ ḥe arbaˁín gemáľ díˀseʰ ľebs wadíˀseʰ ḳayd ḥarír yáˁni ľebs díˀseʰ marádif díˀseʰ ḳéyyod ‘He set a bride-price of forty she-camels whose saddle-clothe and ropes should be of silk (saddle-clothe, that is, their saddle-clothe, their ropes)’ (CSOL II 1:64)
b. rέkob héyki díˀki ḷe-ḥumár marádif dέndɛhɛn ‘In the meantime, put the saddle-cloth on our donkey’ (CSOL II 2:1)
c. ḷaḷ neḥomíľin ḷe-bᵉˁer waľľa ḷe-ḥumár yeḥóuḷɛ heʸh marádif wáľľa kanábiľ kor ḷaḷ yeḥeméḷen ˁeʸh aḷ-ľiṣṭéḷɛb ṭádaˁ ‘When we load a camel or a donkey, we put clothes or coverlets beneath the load so that when it’s loaded up, the back won’t be injured’ (CSOL III 10:23)
d. ḥómiľ ˁag ḷe-ḥamár be-méḳṭaf ö́bhon wa-ˀaḷ-ḥᵃḷe heʸh kaḷ ṭad meredífhin wa-ˁámor heʸh mednebéʰ wa-ḷaḷ yeṭáreb fiľágeʰ yégtḥor meʸh dénob wa-gátḥar ṭádaˁ men zemáľ di-ˀaḷ-ˀéṭar ‘A man loaded a donkey with a load-pack of stones, but he put only a small piece of cloth under it. Then he fixed a rope under the donkey’s tail. When they started to go down the bank of a wadi, the donkey’s tail got scratched, and its back got scratched because the harness was not well-fastened’ (Bulakh 2024:168)
dim. meredéfhen or meredífhin ‘blanket to put upon a donkey’s back’ (Bulakh 2024:132, 168. See example d).
The word seems to be borrowed from Arabic, but the source is somewhat unclear. It is said to be the Soqotri equivalent of the Arabic term ľebs ‘saddle-cloth’ (cf. example 2a for both terms). It seems to be related to Arabic rdf ‘to ride behind one on an animal’ and/or ridf- ‘rump, croup of an animal’ (Wehr 388), but no morphologically suitable source of borrowing could be discovered. Cf., alternatively, Yemeni Arabic radf ‘carrying something on one's back’ and radīf ‘big, heavy cloth, shawl’ (al-Iryani 345, Piamenta 179).