aslan

Alternative forms

• aslanu

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish ارسلان‎ (arslan).

Noun

aslan

1. lion

Alternative forms

• arslan

Etymology

From arslan, from Ottoman Turkish ارسلان‎ (arslan), from Proto-Turkic [Term?], equivalent to arsıl (“auburn, brown”) + -lan (“suffix denoting a wild, predatory animal”). Compare kaplan (“tiger”), yılan (“snake”), sırtlan (“hyena”).

Cognate with Azerbaijani aslan, Bashkir арыҫлан (arïθlan), Crimean Tatar arslan, Chuvash арăслан (arăslan), Kazakh арыстан (arıstan), Kyrgyz арстан (arstan), Tatar арыслан (arıslan), Turkmen arslan, Uzbek arslon, Uyghur ئارسلان‎ (arslan).

Compare Erzya арыслан (aryslan), Kalmyk арслң (arslñ), Mongolian арслан (arslan, “lion”). Compare the Turkic borrowings Adyghe аслъан (āsłān), Middle Armenian ասլան (aslan), and the given names Persian ارسلان‎ (Arsalân), اصلان‎ (Aslân), Arabic أَصْلَان‎ (ʾaṣlān).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̟s.ɫɑ̟n/

Noun

aslan (definite accusative aslanı, plural aslanlar)

1. (zoology) lion