Denotes “land, area” in the JLO texts, although examples with both “land, country” and “ground” meanings are attested in the Vienna Corpus (see Kogan 2015:498).
Alternatively < PS *baˁl- ‘lord,’ cf. the by-forms ˀɔˁẑ, ˀɔ̄ˁẑ, ˀɔ́ˁɔẑ in JL 22, as well Mhr. abɛli ‘God’ (ML 41).