‘Sayf’: Arabic word for summer has warm and pure origins

Not to be confused with the word for sword, sayf also lends itself to expressions of clarity

The Arabic word sayf translates to summer in English

For some, summer is the season of holidaying and relaxation. For others, it’s the most uncomfortable time of the year.

In Arabic, the name of the season is “sayf”. This is not to be confused with “saif”, which in Arabic is pronounced with a soft s and means sword. However, the English translation for summer is regularly spelt both ways.

Sayf is a noun derived from the three Arabic letters sad, yah, fah. There are two plural forms for the word, “aṣyaf” or “suyuf”.

The second season of the year, the sayf comes after spring, before autumn and winter. Across the Arab region, as is the case in much of the northern hemisphere, it's the season when the school year ends and most people take a holiday.

There are a number of idioms in Arabic that use the word sayf. For example, “sayfun dafiun”, a warm summer, or “sayfun muthlimun”, or dark summer, and references the ambience of the season more than the weather.

The three Arabic letters that make up the root of the word sayf, can also mean “to be clear”. This is demonstrated in other words derived from the three letters, describing different facets of that same meaning.

Some examples include “safa”, meaning pure, righteousness and sincerity. “Sifwa” means a sincere friend; “ṣafw” means clarity; “asfa” means a thing or person of a purer or higher degree; “masfah” means any form of refinery.

While no official connection is made, the word sayf and words denoting clarity and purity, may be connected to the idea that summer is the brightest and clearest of the four seasons.

There are a number of films and songs that have the word sayf – or saif, though meaning summer not sword – in their title or use the season's associations with holidays as a core theme.

One is the critically acclaimed film El Banat Waal Saif (The Girls and the Summer), starring celebrated Egyptian singer and actor Abdel Halim Hafez and actress Soad Hosny.

The film, directed by Salah Abouseif and released in 1960, follows the character Samiha, played by Hosny, who along with her friends explores all that summer life has to offer.

From life on the beach, hanging out in cafes, dance parties and romance, Samiha is having the summer of her life until her haughty upper-class family finds out what she has been up to.

One of Lebanese singer Fairouz’s most popular songs is titled Habbaitak Be El Saif (I Loved You in Summer) released in 1970 from her album Shahrazad.

The sad song is a first-person narration of a young girl waiting for her lover during the long season of summer and then in winter, only for him never to return, leaving her alone in the rain.