giraffa

See also: Giraffa

Italian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-der.?

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂der.?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-der.?

Classical Persian زُرْنَا (zurnā)

Proto-Indo-European *ped-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *pṓds

Proto-Indo-Iranian *pā́ts

Proto-Iranian *pā́dah

Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎭 (p-a-d)

Classical Persian پَا (pā)

Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā)bor.

Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐ (zārīp̄ā)bor.

Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa)bor.

Italian giraffa

Borrowed from Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐ (zārīp̄ā), borrowed from Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā), from زُرْنَا (zurnā) + پَا (pā).

(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒiˈraf.fa/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -affa
• Hyphenation: gi‧ràf‧fa

Noun

giraffa f (plural giraffe)

1. giraffe (mammal)
2. boom (a movable pole used to support a microphone or camera)

Related terms

• giraffista

Descendants

• → Czech: žirafa
• → Lithuanian: žirafa
• → Serbo-Croatian:
  • Latin script: žirafa
  • Cyrillic script: жирафа
• → Slovak: žirafa
• → Slovene: žirafa
• → Maltese: ġiraff
• → Middle French: giraffe
  • French: girafe
    • → Bulgarian: жираф (žiraf), жирафа (žirafa)
    • → Catalan: girafa
    • → Luxembourgish: Giraff
    • → Polish: żyrafa
      • → Kashubian: żirafa
    • → Romanian: girafă
    • → Russian: жираф (žiraf), жира́фа (žiráfa) — dated, colloquial, жира́фъ (žiráf) — pre-1918 spelling
      • → Georgian: ჟირაფი (žirapi)
      • → Ingrian: žirafa
    • → Swedish: giraff
      • → Finnish: kirahvi
  • → English: giraffe
• → Middle High German: geraff, seraffe, schraffe
  • German: Giraffe
    • → Danish: giraf
    • → Dutch: giraf, giraffe
    • → Hungarian: zsiráf
• → Portuguese: girafa
  • → Hunsrik: Schiraff
• → Spanish: jirafa
  • → Basque: jirafa
  • → Central Huasteca Nahuatl: jirafa

Further reading

• giraffa on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^it

Anagrams

• graffai, graffia

Latin

Etymology

From Italian giraffa.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɡɪˈraf.fa]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [d͡ʒiˈraf.fa]

Noun

giraffa f (genitive giraffae); first declension

1. (New Latin, zoology) a giraffe

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	giraffa	giraffae
genitive	giraffae	giraffārum
dative	giraffae	giraffīs
accusative	giraffam	giraffās
ablative	giraffā	giraffīs
vocative	giraffa	giraffae

Portuguese

Noun

giraffa f (plural giraffas) (rare)

1. (Brazilian Portuguese spelling) pre-reform spelling (used until 1943) of girafa
   • 1914 April 13, “Humorismo”, in Jornal Pequeno, volume XVI, number 81, Recife, page 1, column 3:

     O jacaré — Que diabo é isso, giraffa? Pernas de páo?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1923 August 31, “Curiosidades a granel”, in O Combate, volume IX, number 2471, São Paulo, page 2, column 1:

     A giraffa é o unico animal vertebrado que não emitte som.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • [1931 April 27, “A VIDA ANIMAL DOS SERTÕES DA AFRICA, EM “INGAGI””, in A Gazeta, volume XXV, number 7563, São Paulo, page 5, column 2:

     Entre os animaes, passaros e reptis apresentados, podemos citar os seguintes: “Kongoni”, Zebra, giraffas, hyppopotamos, rhinocerontes, leões […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)]

Usage notes

The spelling with a single ⟨f⟩ was already in common use before the spelling reforms.