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In modern Hebrew, "me'ulaf", derived from the Hebrew root ʔ-l-f (alef-lamed-pe) is the passive participle of the verb "le'alef", and means trained (when referring to pets) or tamed (when referring to wild animals); the IDF rank of Aluf, taken from an Edomite title of nobility, is also cognate. In Modern Standard Arabic, أليف /aliːf/ literally means "tamed" or "coy", and is derived from the root "ʔ-l-f" from which the past tense verb آلَفَ /aːlafa/ means to "to coy". Since the names of Arabic letters are phonetic abstractions with no meanings except in their Semitic ancestors, the word itself doesn't have a real connection to the letter other than it contains.
In Rabbinic Judaic folktale 'Aleph is the subject of a midrash which praises its humility in not demanding to start the Bible. (In Hebrew the Bible begins with the second letter of the alphabet, Bet.) In this folktale, 'Aleph is rewarded by being allowed to start the Ten Commandments. (In Hebrew, the first word is אָנֹכִי, which starts with an aleph.) In the Sefer Yetzirah, the letter 'Aleph is King over Breath, Formed Air in the universe, Temperate in the Year, and the Chest in the soul. 'Aleph is also the first letter of the Hebrew word emet, which means truth. In Jewish mythology it was the letter aleph that was carved into the head of the golem which ultimately gave it life. Aleph also begins the three words that make up God's mystical name in Exodus, I Am That I Am (in Hebrew, 'Ehyeh 'Asher 'Ehyeh אהיה אׁשר אהיה), and 'aleph is an important part of mystical amulets and formulas. Jewish mysticism relates Aleph to the element of air, the magician (number 1) of the major arcana of the tarot deck[1], and the Scintillating Intelligence (#11) of the path between Kether and Chokmah in the Tree of the Sephiroth.