afalku

Tashelhit

Alternative forms

• afrkun (“bird of prey”) — Baamran
• afalkay (“falcon”) — Iḥaḥan

Etymology

Inherited from Medieval Tashelhit اڢلكون (afelkun, “falcon”), from Latin falcōnem, the accusative of falcō (“falcon”), via Vulgar Latin.

Compare Kabyle afalku (“bird of prey, falcon”), Tarifit fařcu (“bearded vulture”), and Tachawit falku (“bird of prey”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /afalku/

Noun

afalku m (annexed state ufalku, plural ifulka, Tifinagh spelling ⴰⴼⴰⵍⴽⵓ, Arabic spelling آفالكو)

1. hawk

   Synonym: lbaz

2. bearded vulture

See also

• aswwan (“vulture”)
• igidr (“eagle”)
• lbaz (“hawk”)

References

• 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 90b
• Maarten Kossmann (2013), The Arabic Influence on Northern Berber (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics; 67), Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 69
• Maarten Kossmann (1999), Essai sur la phonologie du proto-berbère (Grammatical analyses of african languages; 12) (in French), Leiden, The Netherlands: ‎Rüdiger Köppe, →ISBN, page 208