Is ḫalfa a Preposition? On a Subclass of the ẓarf in Arabic Grammatical Tradition

This article discusses the semantic distinction, drawn in medieval Arabic grammatical tradition, between prepositions belonging to the part of speech ‘particle’, e.g. fī, and a group of nouns (ẓurūf) displaying a certain similarity to such prepositions, e.g. ḫalfa. It is demonstrated that their categorization by Arab grammarians as nouns should not be regarded as merely formal, as portrayed by some modern scholars, but also has semantic aspects, reflected in their referential meaning. It is the latter point around which the present article revolves.