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The word καλαβῶτις (kalabōtis) is an exceedingly rare, non-Indo-European ancient Greek word that translates to "onion". [1]
The phonetic and semantic similarity between Greek καλαβ- (kalab-) (+otis is a suffix) and Proto-Turkic *KAlba is striking. We can look that Türkic word in Starostin/Dybo's dictionary:
Greek καλαβῶτις is classed as a Pre-Greek substrate word. This means it belonged to an unknown, ancient indigenous language spoken in the Balkan peninsula before Indo-European Greek speakers arrived.
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And now, of course, it is easier to label this language as "pre-Greek," "isolate," "unknown," or a "lost Eurasian substrate" than to classify it as Turkic.
If I mention the name of this unknown language, it is no longer unknown, is it?
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And again a word: I don't think, that all the pre-Greek (non-Greek) words are of Türkic origin. I say, at least a part of it, anyway.
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Uzunbacak Adem
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Link:
[1] https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/86865466/FULL_TEXT.PDF
