Reconstruction:Proto-West Semitic/milḥ-

This Proto-West Semitic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-West Semitic

Etymology

It has been suggested by Bernard (2024) that it derives from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥h₂-, the zero grade of *melh₂- (“to grind”), as in "ground (salt)" (as this type of borrowing of the adjective in phrases is common cross-linguistically).

Noun

*milḥ- m

salt

Descendants

Central Semitic:
- Arabic: مِلْح (milḥ)
  - Gulf Arabic: ملح (milḥ)
  - Moroccan Arabic: ملح
  - Maltese: melħ
  - Hindi: मिल्ह (milha)
- Northwest Semitic:
  - Aramaic: מִלְחָא (milḥā), מִילְחָא (milḥa), ܡܠܚܐ (milḥā)
    - Classical Syriac: ܡܠܚܐ (milḥā)
  - Canaanite:
    - Hebrew: מֶלַח (mélakh, melaḥ)
    - (possibly) Phoenician: 𐤌𐤋𐤊 (mlk)
      - Punic: 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤀 (mlkʾ)
      - → Ancient Greek: Μᾰλᾰ́κη (Mălắkē)
      - → Latin: Malaca
        → Arabic: مالقة
        → Hijazi Arabic: مالقة (learned)
        → Spanish: Málaga
        → Catalan: Màlaga
        → English: Malaga, Málaga
        → Greek: Μάλαγα (Málaga)
        → Hebrew: מָלָגָה (Malága)
        → Polish: Malaga, Málaga
        → Portuguese: Málaga
        → Russian: Ма́лага (Málaga)
  - Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎍𐎈𐎚 (mlḥt /⁠milḥatu⁠/)

References

Bernard, Chams (2024). "Indo-European Salt and Semitic Bulls. On the Etymology of *milḥ “Salt” and *θawr “Bull”" Zeitschrift der Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft 174, 117-132.
Kogan, Leonid (2011), “Proto-Semitic Lexicon”, in Weninger, Stefan, editor, The Semitic Languages. An International Handbook (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft – Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science; 36), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 239