Word Meaning
तालीफ़
Ta'leef
Meaning
Compilation, composition, or bringing scattered parts together.
Detailed Meaning
In classical literary tradition, 'ta'leef' signifies the act of compiling, arranging, or harmonizing scattered fragments into a unified manuscript. In this couplet, it represents the speaker's conscious attempt to bind and compose the pages or recipes of fidelity ('nuskha-ha-e-wafa') while his thoughts were still individual, uncollected leaves.
Etymology
Arabic (تَأْلِيف, ta'līf), a verbal noun from the root أ-ل-ف ('-l-f), meaning to unite, bring together, harmonize, or compile.
Usage
In ghazal, it is frequently used in a meta-poetic sense to compare the craft of book-binding and compilation to reconciling broken hearts or scattered memories.
Examples
The compilation of scattered pages of memory.
Engaged in the arrangement of the beloved's stories.