Proto-Turkic: *KAlba
Meaning: wild garlic, leek
Russian meaning: черемша
Old Turkic: ? qalma 'a k. of food' (Rach.)
Khakassian: xalba
Shor: qalba
Oyrat: qalma
Tuva: xɨlba
Comments: VEWT 227. Cf. an OT (MK) Hapax keleb 'a tender plant which grows in the Turk's summer pastures and fattens livestock quickly' (EDT 716), keleb-le- 'to be covered by this plant (of a mountain)', for which cf. also Sak. kalarbä 'a k. of plant, whose root is used in medicine' (Bailey 35). See also Стеблин-Каменский 1982, 77, comparing the Sak. form with Pers., Tadzh. kalam 'cabbage' (> Turkm. kelem) - these all may be variously transformed substratum loanwords, cf. also Greek krambǟ 'cabbage, radish, rutabaga' - according to Frisk possibly < Pelasg.
