>cf DEX
>mãlai:
[snip] DEX's definitions take into consideration
today's usage, importance and frequency. I was
highliting the chronology as well. So, first came the
plant, and then came the flour.
Hence my hint (sorry that I don't have any source
at hand) malai<->mei -- which in your DEX entries
is almost hidden in # 4. The reader not being
explained why in some regions malai means
mei (millet).
DEX is a valuable tool, but its target is contemporary
Romanian; its historic aspects are only marginally
reflected therein; highly numerous relevant things
aren't even quoted, and the etymologies given are
limited to the next element in a chain (DEX's
authors deem such diachronic sides marginal
or even off-topic).
>aham.. here dissapper even the intervocalic
>"r" (farina > fãinã)
Nonetheless, good news for you: it hasn't disappeared
altogether yet. There are compatriots of yours who still
take care of it, preserving farina (a form that vanished
for good in Alex's own regional "heimat").
George