Bibliotheca Polyglotta

1) Unless a secondary formation (by dissimilative dropping of final ‑b) from ↗ǧilbāb, which with all probability is a pre-Islamic loan from Ethiopian (Gz gəlbāb ‘covering, veil, wrapper’), gallābiyyaẗ / ǧallābiyyaẗ seems to be a nisba formation from ‎↗ǧallāb ‘trader, importer’ (esp. of slaves), a word formed after the faʕʕāl pattern for professions from the vb. ↗ǧalab‑ (< Sem *glb ‘to attract, bring, fetch, import’), cf. Huehnergard2011. As such, its original meaning, like that of ↗ǧallābaẗ, is likely to have been ‘dress of the (slave) traders (or of the slaves themselves?)’.
Given the phonological proximity of ǧallābaẗ, gallābiyyaẗ / ǧallābiyyaẗ, and ǧilbāb, as well as the semantic overlapping, if not identity, it seems difficult to decide whether ǧallābaẗ and gallābiyyaẗ / ǧallābiyyaẗ are ‘contaminated’ from ǧilbāb or whether they derive from ǧallāb, or from distinct sources. In the first case, the semantics would be ‘garment, veil, “second skin”’ (↗ǧilbāb, connected to a Sem *glb ‘skin, etc.’, cf. Ar ↗ǧulbaẗ), in the latter it would be ‘dress of a (slave) trader (or, of a slave)’. Even if we assume distinct origins we will still have to reckon with a high possibility of collapsing meanings.
2) The form gallābiyyaẗ is limited to EgAr (today?), while similar forms of loose garments are called ǧallābaẗ (or ǧillābaẗ) in the Maghreb.

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disc

▪ DRS (1994), s.v. glb, lists “dial. ǧillābaẗ : vêtement (djellaba)” as a separate item, distinct from other values of Sem *glb, and, in the commentary section, states that it is “< glbb”, without however specifying which of the two values of *glbb‑ the authors think the word goes back to: *glbb-1 ‘esclave’ (Ar ǧilbāb), or *glbb-2‑ ‘robe très ample, suaire’ (Ar ↗ǧilbāb), etc.? Both *glbb values then are explained to derive from a Sem *glb value: *glbb-1 from *glb ‘traîner, emmener, etc.’, and *glbb-2 from *glb ‘peau, etc.’ – DRS#GLB-6; GLBB-1 and -2.
Dozy1881 maintained that the form ↗ǧallābaẗ and an even shorter one, ǧallāb, are modifications of the more original ǧallābiyyaẗ which he claims is the garment worn either by slave traders (↗ǧallāb) or by slaves. More or less the same position is also taken by Huehnergard2011 (s.v. glb) for whom ǧallābaẗ‑ and g/ǧallābiyyaẗ as well as ǧilbāb both go back, ultimately, to the vb. ↗ǧalab‑, which in turn can be traced to a WSem *glb ‘to catch, fetch’.
▪ In contrast, Marçais1956 thinks that Dozy’s assumption of ǧallāb‑ and ǧallābaẗ as corruptions of ǧallābiyyaẗ “seems philologically untenable”;in his opinion, it is rather “the Old Arabic djilbāb ‘outer garment’” that is the origin of ǧallābaẗ, or ǧallābiyyaẗ. It is not surprising, he says, that these should have developed from ǧilbāb‑ secondarily, the “dissimilative dropping” of a doubled last consonant being a common phenomenon, especially with loanwords like ǧilbāb.
▪ Youssef2003 suggests (for EgAr) a derivation from Eg grb, Copt čolbe, a man’s overgarment.

west

▪ Cf. Engl djellaba, see ↗ǧilbāb.

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