رعي الأيل

यह कहाँ से आया

Calque of Classical Syriac ܪܥܝܐ ܕܐܝܠܐ (reʿyā də-ʾaylā), literally “meadow of deer”, “herd of deer” or “fodder of deer”—compare رِعْي الْحَمَام (riʕy al-ḥamām)—, itself calquing Ancient Greek ἐλαφοβόσκον (elaphobóskon), ἐλαφόβοσκον (elaphóboskon) which in some Dioskurides manuscripts is used in the place of ἐλελίσφακος (elelísphakos), ἐλελίσφακον (elelísphakon, “sage”), using this translation due to understanding the former Greek lexeme as ἔλαφος (élaphos, “deer”) and βοσκός (boskós, “herdsman”), the root ܪ ܥ ܝ being related to senses of pasturing and herding (Arabic ر ع ي (r ʕ y)). Later transformed into لِسَان الْأُيَّل (lisān al-ʔuyyal, literally “tongue of deer”) in reference to the leaf shape.