Ancient Hebrew

Root

korobera

to hem in, to press close around, to corner, to bar passage

Keruv from Shona korobera, to hem in and bar approach

Confidence
54/100
Root language
Shona
Descent begins
cherubEnglish

The consensus position

Mainstream comparative Semitics treats Hebrew kərûḇ as a loan from Akkadian kāribu/kurību, a participial form of karābu "to bless, to pray", naming the winged apotropaic genius set at temple and palace gateways, ultimately on the Proto-Semitic root *q-r-b "to draw near". No connection to Bantu languages is recognised, and Shona kerubhi is understood as a modern borrowing into Shona through Bible translation.

The working behind this.

The full descent — 8 links from the attested form down to the root — the segment-by-segment correspondences, the phonological breakdown and the case for the derivation are behind an account.

An account opens 10 entries in full, free.

Elsewhere in the corpus