صرفthe dominant sense is raddu al-shayʾ — turning a thing back, i.e. redirecting it from one … (root srf)

Al-ṣarf: the excess of one dirham [in value], and the fineness of silver, and the selling of gold for silver; from it comes al-ṣayrafī (الصيرفي), for his exchanging (taṣrīfihi) one for the other. Al-taṣrīf: the derivation of some [forms] from others. Ṣayrafiyyāt al-umūr (صيرفيات الأمور): the changing affairs, i.e. that turn people about. Taṣrīf al-riyāḥ (تصريف الرياح): their being turned from one direction to another and from one state to another; likewise taṣrīf al-khuyūl (the turning of horses), al-suyūl (floods), and affairs. Ṣarf al-dahr (صرف الدهر): its vicissitude/event. Ṣarf al-kalimah (صرف الكلمة): making it inflected with tanwīn (nunation). Al-Ḥasan said: al-ṣarf is supererogatory devotion, and al-ʿadl is obligatory duty. [And al-ṣarf: that you turn a person, in a manner he desires, to a destination (maṣrif) other than that.] (Ṣarfah al-kawkab, al-ṣarfah): a single star behind the two 'khiratā' of the Lion; when it rises before dawn, that is the beginning of autumn, and when it sets at the rising of dawn, that is the beginning of spring; it is one of the lunar mansions. The Arabs say: al-ṣarfah is the 'fang of Time' (nāb al-dahr), because it releases from cold or from heat in the two states. Al-ṣirāf: the heat/estrus of ewes, cows and dogs, i.e. their being in heat; ṣarafat al-kalbatu taṣrifu ṣirāfan (صرفت الكلبة تصرف صرافا) — 'the bitch went into heat' — so she is ṣārif. Al-ṣarīf: the sound of a camel's canine tooth when it grinds (yuṣrafu), when one tooth is rubbed against the other. Al-ṣarīf: the sound of the pulley (bakrah). Al-ṣarīf: fresh milk at the moment it is milked. [Al-ṣarīf: good wine; and regarding al-Aʿshā's line: 'ṣarīfiyyah, pleasant its taste, having froth between cup and jar' — some said he called it ṣarīfiyyah because it was taken from the jar at that very moment, like fresh (ṣarīf) milk.] A drink that is ṣirf (صرف): unmixed. Al-ṣirf: anything not mixed with anything else. Al-ṣirfān: one of the finest kinds of dates, and a variety of it called 'arzanuhu.' It is also said: al-ṣirfān means death, as in: 'do they carry stones, or iron, or cold, hard ṣirfān?' Al-ṣirf: leather hide of intense redness.

Al-ṣarf: repentance. It is said: 'no ṣarf nor ʿadl is accepted from him.' Yūnus said: al-ṣarf means resourcefulness/strategem (al-ḥīlah); from this comes their saying 'he is resourceful (yataṣarrafu) in affairs.' God, exalted, said: {fa-mā yastaṭīʿūna ṣarfan wa-lā naṣran} 'They are unable to ward off [it] nor to help [themselves]' [Qurʾān]. Ṣarf al-dahr: the events and calamities of time. Al-ṣirfān: night and day. Al-ṣarfah: one of the lunar mansions, a single bright star opposite al-Zubrah, said to be the heart of the Lion, so named ṣarfah for the turning-away of the cold and the onset of heat. Al-ṣarfah is also a bead among the beads mentioned in [love-]charms. Al-ṣirf, with kasrah: a red dye used to dye the straps of sandals, as in the poet's line: 'bay, not made to swear, but like the color of ṣirf with which the hide is dyed.' A drink that is ṣirf: undiluted, pure. Ṣarīf al-bakrah (صريف البكرة): the sound of the pulley when drawing water; it is said ṣarafat taṣrifu ṣarīfan. Likewise ṣarīf al-bāb (the creak of the door) and ṣarīf nāb al-baʿīr (the grinding of the camel's tooth). It is said: nāqah ṣarūf, bayyinat al-ṣarīf. Ibn al-Sikkīt said: al-ṣarīf means silver, and he cited: 'O Banū Ghudānah, you are neither gold, nor silver (ṣarīfan), but you are pottery.' Al-ṣarīf: milk taken away from the udder while still hot, right after milking. Ṣarīfūn: a place in Iraq. Al-Aʿshā said: 'And al-Sīlaḥūn is brought as tribute to him, and beyond it Ṣarīfūn amid its rivers, and al-Khawarnaq.' Al-ṣarīfiyyah: a kind of wine, named after it [that place]. Al-ṣirfān: lead. Al-ṣirfān also: a kind of date. Al-Zabbāʾ said: 'What is it with the camels, that their gait is heavy — do they carry stones or iron, or cold, hard ṣirfān, or seated men?' Abū ʿUbaydah said: nothing given as a gift to her was dearer to her than ṣirfān dates. And he cited: 'when the caravan came to her she said: is this cold, [something] of dates, or is this iron and stones?' Al-ṣayrif: the crafty one, resourceful in affairs; he said: 'I was indeed one much going out and in, resourceful (ṣayrafan), not to be overtaken in confusion.' Likewise al-ṣayrafī. Suwayd ibn Abī Kāhil al-Yashkurī said: 'and a tongue [that is] ṣayrafī, sharp-cutting, like the edge of a sword — it cuts.' Al-ṣayrafī: the money-changer (al-ṣarrāf), from muṣārafah (exchange). A people [group] are ṣayārifah, the hāʾ being for the nisbah [relational ending]. And in poetry al-ṣayārīf has occurred; he said: 'her two hands scatter the gravel in every scorching midday, like the scattering of coins by the money-changers (al-ṣayārīf).' Needing to complete the meter, he lengthened the vowel by poetic license until it became a full letter. It is said: ṣaraftu al-darāhima bi-l-danānīr (I exchanged the dirhams for the dinars) and between... [entry continues]

Ṣād, rāʾ, fāʾ — the main sense of this root indicates the returning of a thing. From this: ṣaraftu al-qawma ṣarfan (صرفتهم صرفا) wa-nṣarafū (وانصرفوا) — 'I turned the people back, and they returned.' Al-ṣarīf (الصريف) is milk at the moment it is milked and taken away. Al-ṣarf (الصرف) in the Qurʾān means repentance, because by it one is turned back from the rank of sinners. Al-ṣarfah (الصرفة) is a star; the lexicographers say it was named ṣarfah because the cold turns away (yansarifu) when it rises. Al-ṣarfah is also a bead (kharazah) used to bewitch men, so named because as it were they turn (yaṣrifūn) the heart away from what it desires from her. Al-Khalīl said: al-ṣarf is the excess of one dirham over another in value. In our view the meaning of ṣarf is that something is turned toward (ṣurifa ilā) something else — as though the dinar is turned toward the dirhams, i.e., it returns to them when you take it in exchange for them. Al-Khalīl said: from this the name al-ṣayrafī (الصيرفي) is derived, for his turning of one thing into the other; he said that taṣrīf al-darāhim (تصريف الدراهم) in all transactions means spending them. Abū ʿUbayd said: ṣarf al-kalām (صرف الكلام) is its embellishment and amplification; it is so named because when speech is adorned it turns (yaṣrifu) the ears toward listening to it. The vicissitudes of time (ḥadath al-dahr) are called ṣarf, plural ṣurūf, so named because it turns people about, i.e., overturns and repeatedly turns them. As for the heat/rutting of ewes, cows, and female dogs, it is called al-ṣirāf (الصراف), and in our view this is analogically part of this root, because [the female] turns [to the male] repeatedly, i.e., is turned and returns. Also of this root is al-ṣarīf, the sound of a camel's canine tooth grinding, so named because it turns and returns it. As for the poet's saying: 'O Banū Ghudānah, you are neither gold, nor silver (ṣarīfan), but you are pottery' — some say that by ṣarīf he meant silver; if this is correct, it was called ṣarīf from their saying ṣaraftu al-dīnāra darāhim (صرفت الدينار دراهم), for it has no other explanation. Among what I consider anomalous (shādhdh) in relation to this root is al-ṣirfān (الصرفان), meaning lead; and al-ṣirfān in the line 'or cold, hard ṣirfān' is disputed — some say it means lead, others say al-ṣirfān is a kind of date, and they cite: 'eating butter with ṣirfān-dates' — they say that nothing brought as a gift to al-Zabbāʾ was dearer to her than dates, and they cite: 'when the caravan came to her she said: is this cold, [something] of dates, or is this iron and stones?' Also anomalous is al-ṣirf, a kind of dye used to dye leather hide, as in: 'bay, not made to swear [an oath], but like the color of ṣirf with which the hide is dyed.' On this basis is understood their saying sharaba al-sharāba ṣirfan (شرب الشراب صرفا), meaning he drank the drink undiluted, as though it were left in its [natural] color and redness.

Al-ṣarf: returning a thing from one state to another, or exchanging it for something else; it is said ṣaraftuhu fa-nṣarafa (صرفته فانصرف) — 'I turned it back, and it turned back.' God, exalted, said: {thumma ṣarafakum ʿanhum} 'Then He turned you back from them' [Āl ʿImrān 3:152]. And He said: {allā yawma yaʾtīhim laysa maṣrūfan ʿanhum} 'the Day it comes to them will not be averted from them' [Hūd 11:8]. And His saying: {thumma nṣarafū ṣarafa Allāhu qulūbahum} 'then they turned away — God turned their hearts away' [al-Tawbah 9:127] — this may be a curse upon them, or it may be a statement of what He did to them. And His saying, exalted: {fa-mā tastaṭīʿūna ṣarfan wa-lā naṣran} 'you are unable to ward off nor to help [yourselves]' [al-Furqān 25:19], meaning: they cannot avert the punishment from themselves, nor turn themselves away from the Fire. It is also said [to mean]: that they turn the matter from one state to another by change; from this is the Arabs' saying 'no ṣarf nor ʿadl is accepted from him.' And His saying: {wa-idh ṣarafnā ilayka nafaran min al-jinn} 'And when We turned toward you a group of jinn' [al-Aḥqāf 46:29], meaning: We brought them toward you and toward listening from you. Al-taṣrīf is like al-ṣarf but with the sense of intensification/repetition, and it is used most often for turning a thing from one state to another, and from one affair to another. Taṣrīf al-riyāḥ (the turning of the winds) is their being turned from one state to another. God, exalted, said: {wa-ṣarafnā al-āyāt} 'And We diversified the signs' [al-Aḥqāf 46:27], and {wa-ṣarafnā fīhi min al-waʿīd} 'And We have diversified therein [various kinds] of warning' [Ṭāhā 20:113]. From this comes taṣrīf al-kalām (inflection/variation of speech), taṣrīf al-darāhim (exchange of dirhams), taṣrīf al-nāb (the grinding of the canine tooth) — it is said 'we have for it a ṣarīf' [a sound]. Al-ṣarīf: milk when its froth has settled, as though the froth has been turned away from it, or it has been turned away from the froth. A man is ṣayrif, ṣayrifī, ṣarrāf. A she-goat is ṣārif, as though she turns the male toward herself. Al-ṣirf: a pure red dye; and it is said of anything pure/unmixed with something else: ṣirf, as though whatever might taint it has been turned away from it. Al-ṣirfān: lead, as though it is turned away from reaching the rank of silver.

Al-ṣarf: turning a thing away from its direction; ṣarafahu yaṣrifuhu ṣarfan fa-nṣarafa (صرفه يصرفه صرفا فانصرف). Ṣārafa nafsahu ʿan al-shayʾ (صارف نفسه عن الشيء): he turned himself away from it. His saying, exalted: {thumma nṣarafū} — 'then they turned away,' meaning they left the place where they had been listening; or it is said: they turned away from acting upon some of what they had heard. {Ṣarafa Allāhu qulūbahum} 'God turned their hearts away,' meaning God led them astray as recompense for their deed. Ṣaraftu al-rajula ʿannī fa-nṣarafa (صرفت الرجل عني فانصرف): 'I turned the man away from me, and he turned away.' Al-munṣaraf (المنصرف) may be a place, and may be a maṣdar (verbal noun). His saying, mighty and exalted: {sa-aṣrifu ʿan āyātī} 'I will turn away from My signs' [al-Aʿrāf 7:146], meaning: I will make their recompense to be being turned away from the guidance of My signs. And His saying, mighty and exalted: {fa-mā tastaṭīʿūna ṣarfan wa-lā naṣran} meaning: they are unable to turn the punishment away from themselves, nor to help themselves. Yūnus said: al-ṣarf means resourcefulness/strategem. Ṣaraftu al-ṣibyāna (صرفت الصبيان): I turned the children about/upset them. Ṣarafa Allāhu ʿanka al-adhā (صرف الله عنك الأذى): 'may God turn harm away from you.' Istaṣraftu Allāha al-makāriha (استصرفت الله المكاره): I asked God to turn away hateful things. Al-ṣarīf: milk that is taken away from the udder while hot. Al-ṣirfān: night and day. Al-ṣarfah: one of the lunar mansions, a single bright star opposite al-Zubrah, behind the two 'khiratā' of the Lion. It is said that it is the heart of the Lion; when it rises before dawn, that is autumn, and when it sets at the rising of dawn, that is the beginning of spring. The Arabs say: al-ṣarfah is the 'fang of Time,' because it releases from cold or from heat in the two states. Ibn Kunāsah said: it was so named for the turning-away of the cold and the onset of heat; Ibn Barrī said: the correct view is that it should be said it was so named for the turning-away of heat and the onset of cold. Al-ṣarfah: a bead among the beads mentioned in [love-]charms; Ibn Sīdah said: men are made to relent by it — they are turned by it from their [other] paths and directions — on the authority of al-Liḥyānī. Ibn Jinnī said: the Baghdadi grammarians' statement, in their saying 'mā taʾtīnā fa-tuḥaddithanā' (you do not come to us and [so] converse with us), putting the response [verb] in the accusative 'ʿalā al-ṣarf' (on account of 'diversion') — this is speech containing a mixture, part of it correct and part of it unsound. What is correct is their saying: al-ṣarf is that the second verb be turned away (yuṣrafa) from the meaning of the first verb — he said: this is the meaning of our saying that the second verb differs from the first. But its being made accusative 'by al-ṣarf' is an error, because it must have a governing element (nāṣib) that requires it, since meanings do not put verbs in the accusative but rather in the nominative (rafʿ); he said: the meaning that makes the verb nominative is the [independent] occurrence of the noun [subject], and it was permitted for verbs, just as it was permitted for nouns, that a meaning may make them nominative, on account of the verb's resemblance to the noun. Ṣarf al-kalimah: making it inflected with tanwīn. {Ṣarafnā al-āyāt} means We made the signs clear. Taṣrīf al-āyāt: their clarification. Al-ṣarf: that you turn a person away from a direction he desires, to a destination (maṣrif) other than that. Ṣarafa al-shayʾa (صرف الشيء): he employed/directed it in a different direction, as though he turns it from one direction to another; and tasarraf huwa (تصرف هو): he turned/acted himself. Taṣārīf al-umūr (تصاريف الأمور): the variations/vicissitudes of affairs; from this... [entry continues]