Thread by @PhDniX

äyaʔḫtʸ comes from *al-ʕaql

Let's go through the sound changes together and see if we can make sense of it!

https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1382640367326093312

*l regularly shifts to intervocalically/word-finally

äyiʔm 'camel', cf. Kabyle alɣʷəm
iyəm 'skin', cf. Tashlhiyt ilm
aʔgäy 'earth' cf. akal

In consonant clusters, *l bcomes:
1. tʸ before and after voiceless consonants
- ämäddäwktʸ 'friend', cf. Pan-Berber aməddakʷl
- ätʸkəm 'to arrive', cf. Tashlhiyt lkm
2. lt > ll
- tämäddäwkəL 'female friend', cf. taməddakʷlt
3. l > y
ogyi 'pass the afternoon', cf. kəl

Zenaga does not have the phoneme ʕ. And ɣ (which is the sound Tuareg borrows ʕ with for example) shifts to ʔ. Zenaga either borrowed ʕ as ɣ before the ɣ > ʔ shift, or just borrows ʕ as ʔ.

oʔreš 'to be slaughtered', cf. Pan-berber ɣrəs

However, Zenaga ʔ is not quite an independent consonant, but rather behaves as glottalisation of the vowel. As such, it can only stand in the coda of a syllable. This explains why it isn't *ayʔaḫtʸ.

- iʔy 'forearm', cf/ Tashlhiyt iɣil

One puzzle here is the reflex ḫ for Arabic *q. Normally, q is borrowed as ɣ. This is because in Hassaniya Arabic of the qāf shifts to gāf. the g, subsequently shifts to ɣ in certain conditioned environments (also in native words).

- aɣḏ̣uḏ̣ 'bird', cf. Tashlhiyt agḍiḍ

Now it seems reasonable for ɣ to devoice to ḫ before a voiceless consonant, but the tʸ reflex of *l only happens after voiceless consonants, so the ḫ must have been voiceless from the start!

Therefore, I think this word was borrowed from it's Classical form ʕaql, not ʕagl.

To sum up:
1. Starting with Arabic al-ʕaql
2. borrowed as alɣaql (or alʔaql)
3. shift of ɣ > ʔ, placement of *ʔ to coda position: alaʔql
4. l > y, tʸ: ayaʔqtʸ
5. q shifts to ḫ (due to lenition? or was it borrowed as ḫ from the start?): äyaʔḫtʸ

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