ajl

Possibly from Arabic ⁧أيّل⁩ (ʔayyil, ʔuyyal, “wild goat, ibex” as well as “deer”). The already ambiguous word may have been transferred to the porcupine, perhaps on account of its spines vis-à-vis the wild goat’s pointed horns. It must be considered that many of the inherited Arabic animal names lost their reference points in the limited fauna of the Maltese islands, which made these words liable to semantic reassignment. Compare Maltese fenek (“rabbit”) from Arabic ⁧فَنَك⁩ (fanak, “fennec fox”).

• IPA^(key): /ajl/

ajl m (plural ajjul)

1. (obsolete) porcupine

   Synonym: porkuspin