حريف

From حَرْف (ḥarf, “sharp edge”) from the root ح ر ف (ḥ-r-f), or probably from Aramaic חריף / ܚܪܝܦ (ḥarrīp̄) found in broader meaning, also literally “sharp”, of smell, high-pitched voices, “current” in application to a silver coin etc., from the cognate root ח־ר־ף / ܚ-ܪ-ܦ (ḥ-r-p) related to sharpness, probably related to Proto-Semitic *x̣arb- (“sharp blade”) whence Arabic حَرْب (ḥarb, “war”), حَرْبَة (ḥarba, “spear”), and also conceivable in the source of Aramaic-borrowed حُرْف (ḥurf, “cress”), since cress is described as of mustard- to radish-like, slightly pungent to peppery taste and smell.

Compare also Hebrew חריף (kharíf, “spicy, sharp”).

حِرِّيف • (ḥirrīf)

1. pungent, acrid (taste)
   • 850–861, علي بن سهل ربن الطبري [ʿAlī ibn Sahl Rabban aṭ-Ṭabarī], edited by Oliver Kahl, ʿAlī ibn Sahl Rabban aṭ-Ṭabarī’s Health Regimen or “Book of the Pearl” كتاب اللؤلؤة (Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies; 115), Leiden: Brill, published 2020, →ISBN, § 80–81, page 102:

     إن من أراد الصحة فينبغي أن يقوم من نومه في السُبْع الأخير من الليل وليسبغ وُضُوءَه ويلبس أنظف ثيابه ويبدأ بحمد الله والتضرع إليه في حاجاته. ويستاك من أشجار مُرّة أو حِرِّيفة.

     He who desires to stay healthy should rise from sleep in the last seventh of the night, expand into a proper ablution, put on his tidiest garment, and begin by praising God and imploring him to provide help when needs befall. He cleans his teeth with a twig from bitter or pungent trees.

حِرِّيف • (ḥirrīf) m (plural حِرِّيفَات (ḥirrīfāt))

1. (usually in the plural) spicy food, delicacies

Compare اِحْتَرَفَ (iḥtarafa, “to do professionally”).

حَرِيف • (ḥarīf) m (plural حُرَفَاء (ḥurafāʔ))

1. (Tunisia, Morocco) customer, patron, client

   Synonym: زَبُون (zabūn)