Usually regarded as related to, or derived from, Sem. *blˁ ‘to swallow’ (cf. [DRS 68], [LGz. 925]); this verb, however, denitely points to ˁ (so in Arb. and MSA), while the noun under consideration shows oscillation ˁ/γ in MSA and, likely, Arb. Note variant stems with *-m in Arb. (cf. also blˁm ‘avaler’ [BK 1 161]), Mnd. (unless an Arabism) and Soq., which may be regarded as common Sem., and *ta- in MSA.