The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 37, September 14, 2003, Article 5

ANYONE KNOW WHAT "ABOKELPS" IS?

  Eric P. Newman writes: "You get wonderful answers to
  strange questions asked by your constituency, so I would
  like to ask a question.

  I am confronted with the word ABOKELPS.  It is written in
  English during the 1670-1680 period in Turkish-controlled
  Syria and Palestine and refers to Lyon (Lion) Dollars which
  were trade coins minted by the Netherlands provinces and
  circulating in the Mediterranean areas.  The word is probably
  misspelled and should be ABOKELB which in Arabic, which
  I am advised means father dog or grand dog and probably
  refers to the rampant lion insignia on the coins.  I believe that
  the coins are sometimes referred to in English as dog dollars.
  The letters P and B are pronounced similarly and could have
  been easily mixed up in translation.  The S at the end may be
  an English indication of plural. Would readers be nice enough
  to guide me to literature or knowledge as to this matter?  I
  would be very grateful."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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