The word was borrowed from [[Ge’ez]] መጽሐፍ (mäṣḥäf) which is the usual word for “book” in [[Ethiopian Semitic languages]] with the root more generally relating to the concept of “writing.” It is thus cognate to [[Southwestern Semitic]] 𐩮𐩢𐩰 (ṣḥf) attested in Sabaen and Qatabanian as well as [[Ethiopian aristocratic and religious titles#Important offices of the Imperial Court|Tsehafi Taezaz]] (lit. ’scribe by command’, translated as “Minister of the Pen”) and the Tsahife Lam (ጻሕፈ ላም) of [[Bete Amhara]]. The other words in the Arabic root “ص ح ف” are from this noun.<ref>Dillmann, August (1865), “ጸሐፈ”, in Lexicon linguae aethiopicae cum indice latino (in Latin), Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, columns 1266–1267</ref><ref>Leslau, Wolf (1987), Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, reprinted 1991, 1997 and 2006, pages 552a–b</ref> Arabic ”maṣḥaf” was itself borrowed into other languages including Persian, Turkish, [[Uyghur]] (مۇسھەپ; mus’hep), [[Uzbek]] (”mushaf”), [[Swahili]] ”msahafu” (leaf), [[Lishana Deni]] מסחף (masḥaf, “book”) and [[Medieval Hebrew]] or Modern Israeli מִצְחָף (mitskháf, a codex or book of the Bible rather than a scroll).
The word was borrowed from [[Ge’ez]] መጽሐፍ (mäṣḥäf) which is the usual word for “book” in [[Ethiopian Semitic languages]] with the root more generally relating to the concept of “writing.” It is thus cognate to [[Southwestern Semitic]] 𐩮𐩢𐩰 (ṣḥf) attested in Sabaen and Qatabanian as well as [[Ethiopian aristocratic and religious titles#Important offices of the Imperial Court|Tsehafi Taezaz]] (lit. ’scribe by command’, translated as “Minister of the Pen”) and the Tsahife Lam (ጻሕፈ ላም) of [[Bete Amhara]]. The other words in the Arabic root “ص ح ف” are from this noun.<ref>Dillmann, August (1865), “ጸሐፈ”, in Lexicon linguae aethiopicae cum indice latino (in Latin), Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, columns 1266–1267</ref><ref>Leslau, Wolf (1987), Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, reprinted 1991, 1997 and 2006, pages 552a–b</ref> Arabic ”maṣḥaf” was itself borrowed into other languages including Persian, Turkish, [[Uyghur]] (مۇسھەپ; mus’hep), [[Uzbek]] (”mushaf”), [[Swahili]] ”msahafu” (leaf), [[Lishana Deni]] מסחף (masḥaf, “book”) and [[Medieval Hebrew]] or Modern Israeli מִצְחָף (mitskháf, a codex or book of the Bible rather than a scroll).
According to the fifteenth-century scholar [[al-Suyuti|al-Suyūṭī]] in his book [[Al-Itqan|Al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān]], the early Muslims debated what to call a copy of the Qur’an following Muhammad’s death. One person suggested سِفْر (sifr), an Aramaic loan referring to a book of the Bible in Christianity and Judaism; however mashaf, which al-Suyūṭī explicitly says is an Ethiopian word, was chosen to better distinguish between the Bible and the Qur’an. This occurred in the context of [[Tewahedo]] influence in Arabia following the [[Aksumite invasion of Himyar]].
According to the fifteenth-century scholar [[al-Suyuti|al-Suyūṭī]] in his book [[Al-Itqan|Al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān]], the early Muslims debated what to call a copy of the Qur’an following Muhammad’s death. One person suggested سِفْر (sifr), an Aramaic loan referring to a book of the Bible in Christianity and Judaism; however mashaf, which al-Suyūṭī explicitly says is an Ethiopian word, was chosen to better distinguish between the Bible and the Qur’an. This occurred in the context of [[Tewahedo]] influence in Arabia following the [[Aksumite invasion of Himyar]].
