ħalliel
Maltese
Etymology
Formally an agent noun of ħall (“to loosen, untie, dissolve”), from Arabic حَلَّ (ḥalla). Thus perhaps “he who detaches something and takes it”. More probably, however, based on a related sense of the Arabic root, namely “allowed, free from restriction” as in حَلال (ḥalāl). Compare أَحَلَّ (ʾaḥalla, “to make allowed, unrestricted”), اِسْتَحَلَّ (istaḥalla, “to consider lawful, unprotected by law, allowed to be taken; to desecrate”), and اِحْتَلَّ (iḥtalla, “to invade, occupy”). In Arabic, حَرامِيّ (ḥarāmiyy) is also widely used to mean “thief”, which is not a contradiction, but the same from the opposite perspective.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ħalˈlɪːl/
Noun
ħalliel m (plural ħallelin)
- thief