ḫalīǧ خَليج, pl. ḫuluǧ, ḫulǧān
ID … • Sw – • BP 993 • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ḪLǦ
bay, gulf; canal – WehrCowan1979.
Etymology still rather unclear, due to lack of Sem cognates and semantic variation within Ar ↗ḪLǦ. Nişanyan makes ḫalīǧ dependent on ḫaliǧa ‘to writhe (with pain, etc.)’ (ḪLǦ_1) while ClassAr lexicographers put it to ḫalaǧa ‘to drag, pull out, separate’ (ḪLǦ_2) and DRS hesitates to assign it to either of the two, preferring to list it as a value in its own right (ḪLǦ_3). In the first case, ḫalīǧ would be *‘the curved one’, likened to a person writhing from pain; in the second, the bay or gulf would be regarded as s.th. *‘diverted, branching off’; and in the third, it would remain without etymology.
▪ No direct cognates in Sem. – For items that may be cognates if the word is based on either ḪLǦ_1 or ḪLǦ_2, or both, see “root” entry ↗ḪLǦ.
Morphologically, a derivation from ḪLǦ_1 or ḪLǦ_2 does not seem impossible. The pattern FaʕīL, a quasi-PP, can have the function of a PP (as in *‘the diverted one’) or express the intense presence of a quality in s.th. (as in *‘the curved one’).
► al- Ḫalīǧ, n.topogr., name of Cairo’s ancient city canal which was abandoned and leveled at the end of the 19th century
► al- Ḫalīǧ al- fārisī, n.topogr., the Persian Gulf
BP#1371 ḫalīǧī, adj., of the Persian Gulf: nisba formation.
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