Sun and Moon Letters

Sun And Moon Letters

In Arabic and Maltese, the consonants are divided into two groups, called the sun letters or solar letters (Arabic: حروف شمسية‎ ḥurūf šhamsiyyah) and moon letters or lunar letters (حروف قمرية ḥurūf qamariyyah), based on whether or not they assimilate the letter lām (ﻝ l) of a preceding definite article al- (الـ). These names come from the fact that the word for "the sun", aš-šams, assimilates the lām, while the word for "the moon", al-qamar, does not.

Read more about Sun And Moon Letters:  Rule, Orthography, See Also

Famous quotes containing the words sun, moon and/or letters:

    “So we saunter toward the Holy Land, till one day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever he has done, shall perchance shine into our minds and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great awakening light, as warm and serene and golden as on a bankside in autumn.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “Would you hear of an old-time sea-fight?
    Would you learn who won by the light of the moon and stars?
    List to the yarn, as my grandmother’s father the sailor told it to
    me.”
    —Walt Whitman (1819–1892)

    “...he sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, declaring that every man should be master in his own house.”
    —Bible: Hebrew, Esther 1:22.

    King Ahasuerus, after his Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command.