Alef-e tasmieh: A survey of the suffix “alef” appended to proper nouns and titles in Persian poetry and prose texts

Due to the synthetic quality of Persian, the function of suffixes in this language is a significant and purposeful one. Some of these endings, created at certain times according to certain rules and necessitated by certain needs, gradually become outmoded and eventually they have been either forgotten or used to a limited extent.Based on a number of literary and historical texts, the present article attempts to investigate about one of the meanings of the suffix “alef” - when added to proper nouns - and the manner and period of its use. Our effort in the study of this seemingly insignificant issue is that, by delving in numerous and various sources while examining the application of this “alef”, its mechanism and secondary meanings, especially, in comparison with some similar suffixes, we would provide researchers and text-investigators with some criteria for refining texts and obtaining an exact understanding of historical names.