أَأَفو
έˀɛfo, έfo
people
люди
ناس
LS 69; CSOL I 462; CSOL II 380; Naumkin et al. 2015a:55
text examples

a. ŝi aḷ ˁeḳáḷoʰ ľa έˀɛfo wa-ľa ḳénho ˁᵃṭaf féred έˀɛfo wa-ˀékeb gezíreʰ ‘She spared nothing, neither people nor cattle. And people fled from there and scattered throughout the island (lit. entered the island)’ (CSOL I 8:2)

b. ṭad ˁag fɔ́ne be-zemán báˁaḷ ˁážeʰ wa-ḥaľ ses ḥaʰ báˁad-ˀaḷ ḥaľ ses fotérek έˀɛfo ‘A long time ago, there was a man who married a woman and dwelt with her. After he had dwelt with her for some time, the people (the man and his wife) became poor’ (CSOL I 1:1)

semantic notes

Often used with the meaning ‘married couple, parents’ (see example b).

root
etymology

Direct parallels to the Soqotri lexeme are found in Mhr. ḥā-bū and Jib. έ-yɔ́ with the same meaning. Müller’s suggestion to compare them to PS *ˀab- ‘father’ (1909:350) still preserves its attractivity in spite of the obvious phonological, structural and semantic difficulties (cf. Lonnet 1999:189, Kogan 2015:547 and, most recently, Bulakh 2022:205).

continental MSA