“This Is Called Ḥaliq”: On the Etymology of a Jewish Food Term

Abstract

Descriptions of the Passover evening service in Gaonic writings of the late ninth and early tenth centuries include the word ḥaliq as an alternative term for ḥaroset, a sweet and sour dipping sauce made from fruit and nuts. Through a diachronic view of ḥaroset in both the Greco-Roman context of the rabbinic Passover meal and the ʿAbbasid context of Gaonic Judeo-Arabic writing, I argue that the etymology of ḥaliq should be derived ultimately from the Latin allec, referring to a fermented fish sauce that was an essential ingredient of the dipping sauces from which ḥaroset evolved. I conclude with a survey of how ḥaliq (and words derived from it) was maintained as a term for ḥaroset in Jewish languages around the world from the Middle Ages until the present day.