The secret of the name

     Life in the Syrian city of Aleppo has not been interrupted for more than 5 thousand years. And, perhaps, all 7 thousand. It was inhabited by representatives of various tribes and peoples. Today these are Arabs, Turks, Kurds, and the names of the most ancient tribes are lost in the depths of thousands of years. The city was part of the Ottoman Empire and was the third largest in it after Istanbul and Cairo. This is important to keep in mind, since the city has retained its ancient name - Halab in Arabic, Turkish, Armenian and Kurdish. The Crusaders changed this name to the Italian style - Aleppo.
    The city is located just 45 km from Turkey. Over the course of millennia, national borders and the distribution of peoples have shifted many times. Near the city lie the ruins of an ancient Syro-Hittite temple, Ain Dara, where four human footprints—each a meter long—are carved into the temple floor. Today, there is no one left to ask why these prints were carved into the stone. One might, however, pose a reasonable question: why does this city bear the Arabic name "Halab"? The word "Halab"—which retains a faint initial "h" sound that has vanished in the name "Aleppo"—means "giant" or "colossal being." In support of this theory, I would point not only to the giant’s stone footprints but also to the Turkic-Tatar term for a mythical giant: "Alyp." Could this not be the same as "Halab"?
In truth, the word "Alyp" is so ancient that attributing it to any single modern language would be highly presumptuous—and likely incorrect. Science knows very little with any certainty about the peoples and languages  that existed many thousands of years ago.