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Bodde (1975) cites Zheng Xuan's comment on the relation between 臘 (OC *raːb, “year-end sacrifice”) and 獵 (OC *rab, “hunt”);
Boltz (1979) instead relates it to a much later word written with the same phonetic & meaning "to cut off, to terminate" (of a year);
Schuessler (2007) proposes an alternative Sino-Tibetan etymology: just as the 葉 (OC *hljeb, *leb) word-family encompasses the meanings "leaf > foliage, year, generation"; so the root *râp "new year, change of year" is apparently a parallel etymon, which also is cognate with Tibetanརབས།(rabs, “generation”) (Bodman, 1980).