halalkhorn.

Etymology: < (i) Urdu ḥalālḵōr, and (ii) its etymon Indian Persian ḥalālḵōr, lit. ‘eating halal food’ < ḥalāl ( < Arabic ḥalāl halal adj.) + -ḵōr, reflecting the modern pronunciation of -ḵ^wur, eating, someone who eats (combining form of ḵ^wurdan to eat; < Middle Persian xwardan), so called because they are said to regard all food as halal (out of necessity).The unusual early form holacueur comes from a translation of a French text using the form †Holacueur (1659 in the passage translated in quot. 1662), which in turn reflects (in the second element) the apparent pronunciation of German Holancör (1658 in the passage translated by the French work), although the German ö (normally pronounced /ø/) in this case may be a misprint for ō ( /oː/). This German passage may also have influenced the English form holencor; the -n- in this form apparently ultimately reflects a colloquial pronunciation (with dissimilation) in an Indian language. NED (1898) also recorded a form alchore , which appears to reflect an erroneous shortening of the Persian (transmitted via French) in the same source as quot. 1662; the passage is not paralleled in the ultimately underlying German text and probably based on a separate, unidentified source:1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 78 Other Indians..are oblig'd to purifie themselves from head to foot, if any of these people, whom, upon that occasion, they call Alchores [Fr. Alchores], should touch them.