Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ Traditionally, the popular blancmange-like dessert called mahallabiyyaẗ or muhallabiyyaẗ is explained as a derivation from ↗ḥalab ʻmilk’ (see Nişanyan’s etymology, quoted below, section WEST). However, while the h instead of ḥ may be due to a re-import from Tu (where original Ar ḥ would have lost emphatic articulation), the morphological structure of the word – a f. nisba formation 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’. In reality, we are prob. dealing with a popular re-interpretation of ^†maḥlabiyyaẗ ʻperfume containing ↗maḥlab’, i.e., ʻmahaleb’, a substance produced from the kernels of the St Lucie cherry. Mahaleb may have been used to flavour the sweet milky dish. The var. mahallabiyyaẗ (with ma‑ instead of mu‑) would support such an etymology.
▪ Alternatively, one may think of muhallabiyyaẗ as *ʻdish flavoured with ^†ḥalbānaẗ ʻstorax/galbanum’; see ↗ḥalab and root entry ↗√ḤLB.
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hist

▪ ^†muḥallabaẗ ‘gelée mince de lait, de riz, d’amidon et d’un peu de parfum’, ^†muḥallabiyyaẗ ‘espèce de gelée’ – Dozy1881.
▪ …

cogn

▪ DRS 5 (1995) #HLB-5 mahallabiyyaẗ ʻflan de farine de riz à 1’eau de rose’.
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disc

▪ See above, section CONC.
▪ …

west

▪ Tu mahallebi, var. muhallebi: 1451 muḥallebī ʻmilky’ (anon., Ferec baʕd eş-şiddeẗ) ḳalye-i Reşīdī, herīse-i muḥallebī, ḥalāve-i Meʔmūnī; 1665 ʻdessert made from milk’ (Evliyā Çelebī, Seyāḥatnāme) zülbiyāt u ḥulviyātı ve baklavası ve palūdesi ve muḥallebīsi ve ṣayf u şitāda [yaz kış] üçer kāse ḫoşābı. Nişanyan is convinced that the Tu word is from Ar *muḥallab ʻmilky, made with milk’ (< Ar ḥalab ʻmilk’), but adds as a note that »[a]lthough it is certain that it is of Ar origin, its Ar equivalent is not been attested« – Nişanyan_22Dec2014. – Nişanyan is not right: at least the dish mentioned by Evliyā Çelebī seems to be the muḥallabaẗ ‘gelée mince de lait, de riz, d’amidon et d’un peu de parfum’ or muḥallabiyyaẗ ‘espèce de gelée’ registered by Dozy1881 and others on the basis of Ar lexicographers. And: the Tu preference for the variant mahallebi instead of muhallebi indicates that a derivation from ↗maḥlab ʻmahaleb’, as suggested above (section CONC), should not be unlikely.
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deriv

For other values attached to the root, see ↗hulb, ↗hilb, and ↗hulābaẗ, as well as, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√HLB. – For the ʻtrue’ etymon, see ↗ḥalab and root entry ↗√ḤLB.

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