# حسل
## Arabic
### Etymology 1

Freytag proposed that since حَسَلَ (ḥasala) and خَسَلَ (ḵasala) are attested to mean “to repel, to propel vehemently, to cast off,” just like سَخَلَ (saḵala), they might represent the same root as سَخْل (saḵl, “offspring of a sheep or goat”). One must also consider سِحْلِيَّة (siḥliyya, “lizard”), which has metathetical forms in dialects and is considered post-classical, being absent from the standard Classical Arabic dictionaries (unlike حِسْل (ḥisl)). The semantic link between سِحْلِيَّة (siḥliyya, “lizard”) and سَحَلَ (saḥala, “to scrape off”) is unclear.
It is possible that both سِحْلِيَّة (siḥliyya, “lizard”) and Middle Armenian խլէզ (xlēz, “lizard”) reflect a colloquial Aramaic substrate related to חלד / ܚܠܕ (ḥlaḏ, “to crawl”). From this root come Aramaic חוּלְדּא / ܚܘܠܕܐ (ḥuldā, “mole”), which was then borrowed into Arabic as Arabic خُلْد (ḵuld, “mole”). In Neo-Armenian խլեզ (xlez), the term also appears as a word for “slug,” allowing it to be linked to Aramaic חְלָזֹונָא / ܚܠܵܙܘܿܢܵܐ (ḥəlāzōnā, “snail, slug”), from which Arabic Arabic حَلَزُون (ḥalazūn, “snail, slug”) is borrowed. Formally, this corresponds to Jewish Literary Aramaic חִילִּיז, חִלִּיז (ḥillīz), glossed as “cyst” or “a person afflicted with an eye disease called חֽלָּזֹון (hillāzōn, literally “slug”).” The exact vocalization is uncertain; it may be identical to the Syriac variant ܚܠܝܙܘܢܐ (ḥəlīzōnā, “snail, slug”). Compare Classical Syriac ܚܰܠܳܕܺܝܬܳܐ (ḥalāḏīṯā, “gangrene”) and ܚܰܠܕܘܽܕܴܐ (ḥaləḏūḏā, “jerboa”) for further examples of this root, as well as Jewish Literary Aramaic חַלְּטָתָה, חַלְּטָתָא (ḥalləṭāṯā, “lizard”) for another variation.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ħisl/

#### Noun

حِسْل • (ḥisl) m (plural أَحْسَال (ʔaḥsāl) or حُسُول (ḥusūl) or حِسْلَة (ḥisla) or حِسْلَان (ḥislān))
* young of a spiny-tailed lizard, when it comes forth fresh from its egg and before it has fully hatched out (then it is called غَيْدَاق (ḡaydāq), then مُطْبِخ (muṭbiḵ), then خُضْرِم (ḵuḍrim), and an adult is ضَبّ (ḍabb))

##### Derived terms

* أَبُو حِسْل (ʔabū ḥisl, “adult spiny-tailed lizard”)
* حُسَيْل (ḥusayl, diminutive)
* (probably) حِسَّل (ḥissal, certain spurges)

#### Further reading

* Behnstedt, Peter, Woidich, Manfred (2012) Wortatlas der arabischen Dialekte – Band II: Materielle Kultur (Handbook of Oriental Studies – Handbuch der Orientalistik; 100/II) (in German), Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 361–362 for سِحْلِيَّة (siḥliyya).
* Jawharīy s.v.
* Freytag, Georg (1830) “حسل”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 380b
** via Freytag, Georg (1830) “خسل”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 487a compared from سَخْل (saḵl) at Freytag, Georg (1833) “سخل”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 296a
* Lane, Edward William (1863) “حسل”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate, page 569
* Löw, Immanuel (1912) “Aramäische Lurchnamen”, in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete‎ (in German), volume 26, page 147
* Nöldeke, Theodor (1904) Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎ (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, page 87

### Etymology 2

Unknown, possibly an alteration of the name of the spiny-tailed lizard babies since due to the yellow colour of the flowers these could be designed as such.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ħis.sal/

#### Noun

حِسَّل • (ḥissal) m (obsolete, rare)
* certain spurges, Euphorbia palustris, Euphorbia esula; Euphorbia cyparissias
** a. 1248, ابن البيطار [Ibn al-Bayṭār], الجامع لمفردات الأدوية والأغذية [De simplicibus medicinis opus magnum]:حسل: الرازي: يسمى باليونانية حسمى وهو بقل يشبه الصعتر الطويل الورق المعروف بالبرمر إلا أنه أعظم منه وأطيب رائحة فهو لذلك أجود للمعدة. قال صاحب الفلاحة: الحسمى هو الحسل يشبه الصعتر البستاني إلا أنه أغبر وهو أطول ورقاً من الصعتر، وفيه شيء يطول حتى ينطوي بعضه على بعض، ويطبخ مع الطعام ويؤكل نيئاً وهو يصلح المعدة ويطيب الجشاء ويصلح الطعام الفاسد فيها ويسرع إحدار الطعام ويطيب النكهة وقد يشفي من لدغة العقرب ونهشه الرتيل(please add an English translation of this quotation)

##### Descendants

* → Old Italian: esula
** → Middle French: esule

#### References

* Glessgen, Martin-Dietrich (1996) Die Falkenheilkunde des ‹Moamin› im Spiegel ihrer volgarizzamenti. Studien zur Romania Arabica (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie; 269/270)‎ (in German), Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, →DOI, →ISBN, page 748