Plants with Arabic Names
helbeh
الحُلْبة
Trigonella foenum-graecum
A plant whose yellow seeds are eaten and taken as a remedy. Its scientific name, Trigonella foenum-graecum, is Latin, not Arabic; but its Arabic name, ḥulba, crossed into Europe and is helbeh in French and English.
- Source of the name
- From an Arabic word
- From the Arabic word
- ḥulba
- The word in European languages
- helbeh
- Genus
- Trigonella
- Species shown
- Trigonella foenum-graecum
«الحُلْبةُ نِبْتةٌ لها حَبٌّ أصفرُ، يُتعالَجُ به، ويُبَيَّتُ فيُؤكَل.»
The path between languagesḥulba → helbe → helbeh
Wadghiri (2/31) records helbe in French in the 16th century and helbeh in the 19th: "a plant that is eaten, with seeds used as a remedy"; other forms are halb and helba.
Merriam-Webster defines helbeh as fenugreek seed used in Egypt mixed into a flour with durra, from Arabic ḥulbah.
Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Sources
- ابن منظور، لسان العرب ١/٣٣٣
- عبد العلي الودغيري، العربيّات المغتربات ٢/٣١
- Merriam-Webster: helbeh
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