An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

1) Adjective suffix denoting "of, relating to, or characterized by;" e.g. astronomical, material, equal, final, general, directional, fictional, etc. Variant → -ar.
2) Noun suffix, used with verbs (refusal, rehearsal, etc.) or nouns (canal, etc.).

1) M.E., from O.Fr., from L. -alis
2) M.E. -aille, from O.Fr., from L. -alia, from neuter pl. of -alis.

1) -i, contraction of -ik, → -ic; -var Mid.Pers. -uwar, -war, from O.Pers. -bara, from bar- "to bear, carry," variant -ur; -mand from Mid.Pers. -omand, O.Pers./Av. -mant, cf. Skt. -mant.
2) In Persian, -âl, a suffix of attributes and similarity, is used to form adjectives that often become nouns. Sometimes it occurs as -al or -el and may be confounded with -ul and -ulé, → -ule. Its link with L. -alis is not established. Some examples:
dombâl "rear part; continuation; tail," from domb "tail" + -âl,
cangâl "fork; claws," from cang "claw; hook" + -âl,
pušâl "tinder, rubbish," from puc, puk "hollow" + -âl,
ravâl "trend," from row present stem of raftan "to go" + -âl,
xoškâl "dried twigs and leaves of a green tree," from xošk "dry" + -âl,
tofâl "remains of anything squeezed," from tof "saliva" + -âl,
kupâl "club," from kup-, kub(idan) "to beat, strike, pound" + -âl,
gowdâl "hole, pit, low place," from gowd "deep" + -âl,
tâval "blister," from tâv-, tâb-, tâbidan "to become warm, burn," + -al.
kandâl "pit (Qâeni), watercourse, canal (Kordi)," from kand stem of kandan "to dig, pluck, extract" + -âl,
mərdâl (Tâleši Xošabar) "dead," from mərd "to die" + -âl,
capâl "left-handed," from cap "left" + -âl,
gaštal (Laki) "wanderer, vagabond," from gaštan "to turn, return, change, look about" + -al,
kašal (Torbat Heydariye-yi) "elongated," from kašidan "to draw, extend" + -al,
gerdel (Hamadâni, Lori, Qomi) "round, loop," from gerd "round" + -el,
peškel "orbicular dung of sheep," from pešk "dung" + -el.

The → Balmer series spectral line of hydrogen which results from → atomic transition between the → energy levels 2 and 3. It has a wavelength of 656.4 nm and falls in the red region of the visible spectrum.

H, symbol of → hydrogen; alpha (α), the first letter of Gk. alphabet.

A → transcendental function. Examples are: exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions.

→ non-; → algebraic + → function.