[Ultimately (partly via Greek and Armenian) from Ottoman Turkish, possibly colloquial alteration of baklavī, chain mail (perhaps because a tray of baklava cut into lozenges somewhat resembles chain mail), from Ottoman naval jargon bakla, chain link, from Ottoman Turkish bakla, fava bean (the oblong shape of a chain link being likened to that of a bean), from Arabic baqla, leguminous plant, from baqala, to sprout; akin to Akkadian baqālu, to malt, sprout, and Ge'ez baq^wala, to sprout.]