Silbahet
Silbahet arabice anguilla.
Apparatus:
Silbahet ABC e | Sibahet f
anguilla ef | anguila ABC
Translation:
Silbahet is Arabic for Latin anguilla {"eel"}.
Commentary:
The word is recorded in Vocabulista, ed. Schiaparelli (1871: 242): ANGUILLA ﺳﻠﺒﺎﺣﺔ /silbāḥa/, ﺳﻠﺒﺎﺢ /silbāḥ/, ﻭﺳﻼﺑﺢ /wa-salābiḥ/ [[1]].
Also in Dozy (1877-81: I.671), ﺳﻠﺒﺎﺢ /silbāḥ/, nom d’un. ﺓ, pl. ﺳﻼﺑﻴﺢ /salābīḥ/ et Vocabulista ﺳﻼﺑﺢ /salābiḥ/; au Maghrib, anguille {i.e. "eel"}, quoting i.a. Vocabulista and Pedro de Alcalá as his sources. Also Corriente (1989: 153), s.v. *SLBḤ... .
The word is further mentioned by Karbstein (2002: 269): s.v. 9) Aal {i.e. "eel"} ﺳﻠﺒﺎﺣﺎ ﻋﺠﻤﻴﺔ ﺍﻧﻔﻠﻪ /silbāḥā ʕağamiya anġilla/ - "/silbāḥā/ is in Romance /anġilla/", {cf. Catalan/Spanish anguila "eel"}, proving that it was still in use by the Morisco community as late as the early 17th c.
Simon’s transcription Silbahet seems to represent a regular plural */silbāḥāt/, which is however not attested in any of the literature consulted.
WilfGunther 14:05, 1 September 2014 (BST)