Proto-Altaic: *àrp`á
Meaning: barley, millet
Russian meaning: ячмень, просо
Comments: EAS 90, KW 15, Poppe 87. АПиПЯЯ 67. The Mong. form cannot be explained as a Turkism (despite TMN 2, 24, Щербак 1997, 100). The Turkic form is sometimes compared with Proto-Iran. *arba- (corresponding to Gr. alphi), cf. East Iranian forms going back to *arpasyā- (or *arbasyā) (Стеблин-Каменский 1982, 23), but it is not identical (loss of the final syllable is hard to explain); on the other hand, the Jpn. parallel is a strong argument in favour of the Altaic origin of the Turkic form.
