amlal

Tashelhit

Etymology

Inherited from Medieval Tashelhit اَمْلَلْ (amlal, “sand”)^[1], from Proto-Berber [Term?] (“sand”), from the root *MLL (“related to whiteness”). Synchronically from imlul (“to be white”).

Cognate with Awjila mlàl (“sand, dust”), Tuareg temă̏lălt (“white sand”), and Ghadames tamallilt (“dune sand”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /amlal/

Noun

amlal m (plural imlaln, Tifinagh spelling ⴰⵎⵍⴰⵍ, Arabic spelling آملال)

sand
ضفارغ الاثر نّس غ وملال. ― ḍfarġ laṭr nns ġ umlal. ― I followed his tracks in the sand.

Inflection

Inflection of **amlal**
	singular	plural
free state	amlal	imalaln
annexed state	umlal	imlaln

Derived terms

imlaln (“sandy region”)
tirit umlal (“dune”)
tirra ɣ umlal (“signs drawn in the sand to divine the future”)
tummaẓt n umlal (“a handful of sand”)

References

^ Ibn Tunart (a. 1172), Kitāb Al-Asmā’‎^[1], sourced from Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l'homme, Cité numérique de la Méditerranée (Cinumed), page 14

Stroomer, Harry (2025), Dictionnaire berbère tachelḥiyt-français — Tome 1 a—e (Handbook of Oriental Studies – Handbuch der Orientalistik; 188/1) (in French), Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 281b

[1] Ibn Tunart (a. 1172), Kitāb Al-Asmā’‎^[1], sourced from Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l'homme, Cité numérique de la Méditerranée (Cinumed), page 14

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