بلح

A variant of فَحْل (faḥl, “stallion”); for the voicing change particular to Arabic compare بُرْغُوث (burḡūṯ) and for the meaning note that in some dialects the present term means or has meant unripe or unfecundated rather than fresh dates, on the other hand ripe dates may have been understood as dates with manness added. The term is also attested as a borrowing in Coptic ⲃⲉⲗϩⲱⲗ (belhōl), ⲃⲉϩⲱⲗ (behōl, “date-palm”). Additionally, compare possibly Soqotri حباله (ḥəbéľe, “tamarind”), which may be related through metathesis.

• IPA^(key): /ba.laħ/

بَلَح • (balaḥ) m (collective, singulative بَلَحَة f (balaḥa))

1. dates (fruit of the date palm)
   • 7th century CE, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 36:54:

     نَهَى رَسُولُ ٱللّٰهِ صَلَّى ٱللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَنِ الدُّبَّاءِ وَٱلْحَنْتَمِ وَٱلْمُزَفَّتِ وَٱلنَّقِيرِ وَأَنْ يُخْلَطَ الْبَلَحُ بِالزَّهْوِ.‏

     nahā rasūlu llāhi ṣallā llāhu ʕalayhi wasallama ʕani d-dubbāʔi wal-ḥantami wal-muzaffati wan-naqīri waʔan yuḵlaṭa l-balaḥu bi-z-zahwi.

     The prophet (PBUH) forbade in a bottle-gourd, in a colocynth container, in a varnished jar, a hollow stump, and from mixing up ripe dates with nearly ripe dates.