conc▪ Of obscure etymology. Is it akin to, and perh. even a development from, ↗hulb ʻhair, bristles’? Lane viii 1893 reports that accord. to some ClassAr lexicographers, pigs’ bristles were used to sew skins etc. – So, perh. *ʻbristles > needle > hook’?
▪ For DRS , hilb is an EgAr var., while the actual item is halb.
▪ Any relation to ↗ḥalbaẗ (pl. ḥalāʔibᵘ), which, accord. to Hava1899, also can mean †ʻanchor’ (though the regular meaning is ʻarena, race track’, in itself without obvious relation to ʻanchor’)?
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