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While the word ''"baba"'' is without a doubt of Slavic origin (so there's never been a need to borrow it from Arabic), there is no reason to believe that a turban-shaped yeast cake is a native Polish, or generally Slavic, invention. The same kind of cake has been known, under various names, throughout central Europe, from the Netherlands, to Alsace, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech lands, Poland, to Russia. In German-speaking territories it's known as ''"Gugelhupf"'' or ''"Kugelhupf"''. The ''Kugelhupf'' didn't always have to be sweet, as evidenced by the tradition of former eastern Poland, where they still bake a potato casserole with onions and bacon (the Jews make it too, but without the bacon) and call it "potato ''babka", "kugel", "kugiel"'' or ''"kugelis"''.
The origin of this German name is even more mysterious than that of the Polish ''"baba"''. ''"Kugel"'' means "a ball" in modern German, but the cake was never baked in such a shape. Perhaps ''"Gugel"'' comes from Latin ''"cucullus"'', or "a hood", while ''"Hupf"'' is the equivalent of "hop" (as in jumping)? But what would a jumping hood have to do with a bundt cake? According to a pair of famous Germany German etymologists, brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (who also collected German folk tales as part of their linguistic studies), a yeast cake would grow so fast that it jumped, but it's possible that what they recorded was just folk etymology. Or maybe it has something to do with prancing around at weddings, where bundt cakes were often served?
This kind of cake was especially popular in Alsace, particularly on special occasions, such as weddings or the Three Kings Day (Epiphany). The Alsatians have come up with some legends to explain the name of this cake, known as ''"Kugelhopf"'' in the local dialect of German. According to one legend, it was invented by an Alsatian priest, whose name was Gérard Kugelhopf.<ref>{{Cyt