سلف

سَالِفٌ ذ Passing; passing away; coming to an end, or to nought; becoming cut off: (Msb:) and going before; preceding: (S:) pl. سُلَّافٌ and [quasi-pl. n.] سَلَفٌ: (IB, Msb, TA:) see سَلَفٌ, first sentence, in four places. [Hence,] الأُمَمُ السَّالِفَةُ The peoples going before, or preceding, [or that have gone, or passed away, before, ] those remaining, or continuing: (K, * TA:) pl. سَوَالِفُ. (TA.) One says, كَانَ ذٰلِكَ فِى الأُمَمِ السَّالِفَةِ وَالقُرُونِ السَّوَالِفِ [ That was in the time of the preceding peoples, and the preceding generations ]: the pl. in this instance being used because every portion of the قرون is termed سَالِفَةٌ. (TA.) [Hence also,] العَسْكَرِ سُلَّافٌ, in the K, by implication, العسكر ↓ سُلَافُ, the former word like غُرَاب, whereas it is correctly like رُمَّان, The van of the army, as expl. in the K. (TA.)