disc▪ ‘Clay, argil, loam’ may be one of the oldest values of the root ↗ṬFL (Sem *ṬPL), secondary only to *‘soil, mud, dust’. From here, the meaning of of ‘softness, tenderness, smoothness’ (↗ṭafl) may have developed, and from the latter the word for ‘infant, baby, child’ (↗ṭifl, lit. *‘of tender age’).
▪ There may be some overlapping with ↗TFL and/or ↗ṮFL (MSA tufl, tufāl ‘spit, spittle, saliva’, tafil ‘ill-smelling, malodorous’, EgAr tifl ‘fibrous vegetable sediment, dregs’ ≙ MSA ṯufl ‘dregs, lees, sediment’).
▪ Neither ↗ṭufaylī ‘uninvited guest, parasite’ nor †ṭafal ‘time before sunset or sunrise’ seem to be related in any way.