šambaliltu
DRAFT
Meanings:
fenugreek (?)
de:German: Deutsch Bockshornklee (?)
fr:French: Français fenugrec (?)
Distribution: OB onward(s)OB onward(s): Old Babylonian onwards (ca. 2000 BCE onwards)
Grammar:
pos: subst.Substantive
Logogram: ú
SILLIM
, ú
SULLIM
sar
Etymology: Compound < šammu + baliltu Cf. Syr. šebbəlīltā and pəlīltā “fenugreek”, borrowed into Middle Persian šambalīdag, see Sokoloff 2009, 1201 and 1504; Aram. (Jew.-Bab.) šibbəlīləṯā “fenugreek”, see Sokoloff 2002, 1103. The supposed compounded word, lit. meaning “plant of the rubbish tip” is assumed to represent probably a popular etymology in CAD Š/1, 311 šambaliltu (disc.).
Discussion
The possible identification of the word with the plant fenugreek has been proposed already in DAB 64f. on etymological grounds.