حور

De unde vine

* The Arabic term for the poplar is probably borrowed from Classical Syriac ܚܘܪܐ (ḥawwərā), considering that

*:# the range of distribution of the white poplar is outside Arabia, but inside the Aramaic language area

*:# the Syriac root as well as this Syriac word are in broader use for terms related to whiteness in general and in botanical application

*:# the Arabic has multiple vocalizations, ḥawwar, ḥawar, hawr (dialectally also ḥōr and ḥūr), of which ḥawwar sounds foreign for a triradical plant name.

* But the insinuation by Alexander Borg 2007 that every Arabic word in the present root – ح و ر (ḥ w r) – denoting whiteness is a “substratal reflex” from Aramaic is to be dismissed. Such a separation is not conceivable: The Arabic root means in as much “contrasting white” as it means “returning”, “changing one’s position or state”. In the same section Borg fails to earmark يَرَقَان (yaraqān, “blight; jaundice”) as Aramaic-borrowed or to outline any causally plausible chronology of color expressions.