Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ From protSem *x̣alab‑ ‘milk’ (Huehnergard2011) or protWSem *ḥalab‑ ‘milk’ (Kogan2015: 82 #20; the author thinks that »[t]here is no trace of *ḥalab‑ ‘milk’ in Akk as nAss ḫalāpu ‘to milk’ and ḫilpu ‘milk’ are obvious Aram loanwords« and therefore restricts his reconstruction to the WSem sphere only).
▪ DRS #ḤLB-1 asks whether the first radical in √ḤLB shouldn’t perh. be analysed as a prefix *Ḥ‑ so that we actually might be dealing with *√Ḥ‑LB. No further discussion about the possible nature of such a prefix *Ḥ‑ ; for the remaining element *LB, the authors suggest to compare ^†LBʔ [^†libaʔ ‘biestings, first milk, colostrum’] and LBN [↗laban ‘milk’].
▪ With the exception of ↗²Ḥalabᵘ ʻAleppo’ (and a few ClassAr items, see root entry ↗√ḤLB) as well as, perh., ↗maḥlab ʻmahaleb, St Lucie cherry (bot.)’, most values attached to √ḤLB may be ultimately derived from a primary ʻmilk, to milk’ – even ↗ḥalbaẗ ʻrace track, race ground, arena, hippodrome; horse race’. A semantic bridge to many of those other meanings may be the basic idea of a *ʻconfluence (of streams of milk) from several directions (of the udder), with a common goal, contributing to achieving a common aim (filling the milking bowl)’. If this assumption is correct, we are facing a rather curious\strange line of development: *ʻmilk > to milk > to “milk” parts of a clan\several quarters\regions > to come together, assemble from several parts etc. to assist in achieving a common goal (i.e., filling the “milk bowl”) > to line up for that goal > to race ground’ – see root entry ↗√ḤLB for more details.
▪ For ↗mahallabiyyaẗ ‘dessert resembling blancmange’ and ^†ḥalbānaẗ ʻgalbanum; storax’, see below, section DISC.
▪ ….

hist

▪ In ClassAr, also fig. use of ḥalab ʻmilk’ is attested, cf., e.g., the values ‘date-wine’ (“milked” from dates; see also ḥalab al-karm, ḥalab al-ʕaṣīr ‘wine’ from grapes) and ‘(certain type of) tax’ (“milked” out of the population) – BK1860, Lane ii 1865, Steingass1881, Hava1899.
▪ ClassAr lexicographers explain the dual expression ^†al-ḥalbatānⁱ as ʻthe two milking times’ (BK1860, Lane1865), thus linking ḥalbaẗ to ʻmilk’.
▪ ClassAr ^†ʔaḥlaba, vb. IV, (also ^†ĭstaḥlaba, vb. X) ʻto assist, come to the rescue (party)’ seems to be a generalization/semantic extension of an earlier ʻto milk for s.o., support s.o. by providing milk for him/her’, attested, e.g., in the expression ^†ʔaḥlaba ʔahlahū ʻhe milked for his family, conveyed to his tribe what had been milked’ (Lane1865). ^†ʔaḥlaba may also mean ʻto assist s.o. to milk, in milking’, hence the general sense of ʻto assist’ in ClassAr. From this, also the value ʻto assemble, come together from every quarter, to render aid\for war’ and hence also the general ^†ḥalaba (u, ḥalb, ḥulūb) ‘to come together from every quarter’ seem to be derived. – See also ↗ḥalbaẗ ʻrace track\ground, arena, hippodrome; horse race’.
▪ ClassAr ^†ḥālib ‘vein on the two sides of the navel’, (BK) ‘veine du femur’, du. ^†al-ḥālibānⁱ ‘les deux veines autour du nombril’, seem to be related to the idea of *ʻconfluence, collecting, assembling’, derived from ʻto milk’, see above.
▪ …

cogn

▪ DRS ḤLB-1 Akk ḫalābu ʻtraire’, Ug ḥlb ʻlait; beurre ou fromage’, Pun ḥlb, Hbr ḥālāb, Syr ḥalbā, Ar ḥalaba ʻtraire’, ḥalīb ʻlait’, Mhr ḥəlūb, Ḥrs ḥəlōb, Jib ḥɔ́lɔ́b, Soq ḥélɔb ʻtraire’; Jib ḥɔ́lɔ́b ʻbabeurre’, Soq ḥə́lub ʻyoghourt’; Mhr məḥlīb ʻjeune chamelon’, Jib maḥléb ʻchamelle; jeune génisse’, Gz Te Tña ḥalib ʻlait’, Amh ayb, Har ḥay, Arg hayu, ʻlait caillé, fromage crémeux’, Tña ḥaläbä ʻtraire; laitage’, Hbr ḥeleb ʻgraisse animale’. – MġrAr ḥallāb : pot à deux anses pour boire, ḥalbiyyaẗ ʻgargoulette’, Tña ḥilab ʻplat, écuelle, gamelle’, Amh malbiya : vase pour traire’. –2-8 […].
▪ Kogan2015, 82 #20: Ug ḥlb, Hbr ḥālāb, Syr ḥalbā, Ar ḥalab, ḥalīb, Gz ḥalib, Jib ḥɔ́lɔ́b, Soq ḥéḷob ‘milk’.
▪ …

disc

▪ Unless an isolated item and/or a loan from an unknown source, also ↗ḥulbaẗ ʻfenugreek’ may be related to ʻmilk, milking’, given the fact that »le fenugrec est recommandé aux accouchées et pour soutenir la lactation«, as observed by DRS (discussion of #ḤLB-5).
▪ Etymologies that connect the name of the Syrian city ²Ḥalabᵘ ʻAleppo’ with ʻmilk, milking’, as the place where Abraham allegedly would have milked his flocks, are folk etymologies. The same holds for the popular explanation of the name as deriving from the marble, white like milk, found at Aleppo. In reality, the name is much older, perh. of Amorite origin; see ↗²Ḥalabᵘ.
▪ According to Huehnergard2011, maḥlab ʻmahaleb (Prunus mahaleb, St Lucie cherry; bot.)’ is from ḥalaba ʻto milk’; but details remain unexplained, see ↗maḥlab.
▪ Traditionally, also (the scarcely attested) ^†ḥalbānaẗ ʻstorax; galbanum’ belongs to the complex of ʻmilk, milking’, as the aromatic substance is a resin “milked” from some plant. In contrast, however, Hoch1994 does not believe that this »standard etymology« is true »since, as the Grk transcription [kʰalbánē] shows, the first consonant is /ḫ/ and not /ḥ/« (#348). – Given the scarce attestation in Ar, Hoch assumes that Ar ^†ḥalbānaẗ »is prob. a loan from Aram/Syr« (ibid., fn. 53).
▪ Traditionally, also the popular blancmange-like dessert called ↗mahallabiyyaẗ (with h, not ḥ), var. muhallabiyyaẗ, is explained as a derivation from ḥalab ʻmilk’. However, while the h instead of ḥ may be due to a re-import from Tu (where the originally Ar word lost emphatic ḥ), the morphological structure of the word – a f. nisba based on a PP II – runs contrary to such an interpretation, as form II is not attested and a nisba of PP II ʻmilk’ would mean *ʻbelonging to s.th. made milky, or milk-like’. Therefore, are we perh. dealing with a popular re-interpretation of ^†maḥlabiyyaẗ ʻperfume containing ↗maḥlab’, used to flavour the sweet milky dish, or *ʻdish flavoured with ^†ḥalbānaẗ ʻstorax/galbanum’ (see above)?
▪ …

west

▪ Engl galbanum, from Grk kʰalbanē, of NWSem origin (compare Hbr ḥelbᵊnâ, Aram ḥelbānitā ‘galbanum’, from *ḥalab ‘milk’, cf. Ar ḥalab, ḥalīb) – Huehnergard2011. Cf., however, above, section DISC.
▪ Engl mahaleb, from Ar maḥlab ʻmahaleb’, from ḥalaba ʻto milk’ – Huehnergard2011. Cf., however, discussion s.v. ↗maḥlab.

deriv

►ḥalaba, i, u (ḥalb), vb. I, to milk (an animal): perh. denom. | ḥalaba ’l-dahra ʔašṭurahū, expr., he has seen good and bad days.
►taḥallaba, vb. V, 1a to run, drip, trickle, ooze, seep, leak; b to water, drool (mouth, with appetite): Dt-stem, denom. | tataḥallabu lahū ’l-ʔafwāh, expr., adj., making the mouth water, appetizing; taḥallaba ’l-luʕābu fī famī, expr., my mouth was watering.
►ĭḥtalaba, vb. VIII, to milk (an animal): Gt-stem, self-ref.
►ĭstaḥlaba, vb. X, 1a to milk (an animal); b to squeeze juice (from): *Št-stem, desiderative.

►ḥalb, n., milking: vn. I.
► ^BP#2272ḥalīb, n., milk: quasi-PP I. | laban ḥalīb, n., cow’s milk (EgAr)
►ḥalūb, adj., lactiferous: adj. formation | baqaraẗ ḥalūb, n.f., milk cow; al-māšiyaẗ al-ḥalūb, n.f., dairy cattle
►ḥallāb, n., milker: n.prof.
►ḥallābaẗ, n.f., 1a milkmaid, dairymaid; b dairywoman: n.prof.f.; 2 milk cow: ints. formation.
►ḥālib, n., ureter: PA I, prob. more originally ʻspermatic duct’ (< *ʻgiving milk’).
►mustaḥlab, n., emulsion: PP X. | mustaḥlab al-lawz, n., almond milk.

For other values attached to the root (some of which perh. dependent on ḥalab), cf. ↗ḥalbaẗ, ↗ḥulbaẗ, ↗maḥlab, ↗ḥālib, ↗²Ḥalabᵘ, as well as, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√ḤLB.

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