The name Male is thought to come from the Malayalam word Mala ('hill').[19][20] Al-Biruni (AD 973 - 1048) must have been the first writer to call this state Malabar.[16] Authors such as Ibn Khordadbeh and Al-Baladhuri mention Malabar ports in their works.[21] The Arab writers had called this place Malibar, Manibar, Mulibar, and Munibar. Malabar is reminiscent of the word Malanad which means the land of hills. According to William Logan, the word Malabar comes from a combination of the Malayalam word Mala (hill) and the Persian/Arabic word Barr (country/continent).[16]