maḫru - past, bygone time; before, in the presence, in front of
(CAD M₁ 50, AHw. 585)
Since the pattern(s) C₁aC₂(a)C₃- are not synchronically productive in
Akkadian, maḫru is unlikely to be derived from maḫāru ‘to face’ within the history of Akkadian. Rather, we are probably faced with an archaic, pre-Akkadian derived noun, also preserved
in PCS with a shift of meaning (Kogan 2015: 194)
Akkadian
makāru - to do business, to use silver in business transactions
(CAD M1 126; Kogan 2006a:188)
As rightly observed by M. Streck (2000:104), the standard dictionaries do not consider the possibility of Akk. malku, maliku being a WS loanword. However, contra Streck, such a hypothesis is certainly
not unlikely in view of the word’s predominantly late attestation, its close connection with the West (particularly Mari) in the early periods and then specific meaning “foreign king” in a good part of the attested examples. In view of the extraordinary prominence of *mal(i)k- throughout the neighboring WS cultural and linguistic area, its comparatively massive infiltration into late Akkadian sources (notably the NA royal inscriptions) does not appear surprising. Within this approach, reliable attestation of mlk ‘to rule’ (and, probably, *malik- ‘king’) in the Ebla sources (for which see Krebernik 1983:38, Sanmartín 1991:194 and numerous other studies quoted in DUL 549‒550) should be attributed to WS influence (Kogan 2015: 91-92).
Even if it is identical to Hbr. mallūaḥ, of uncertain meaning (let alone botanical
identification), cf. Arb. malūḫiyyat-, with ḫ rather than ḥ.
both rare and late and may well be a WS loanword if at all related to *milḥ- - salt