The biblical term: “ibri” or “ivri” (עברי) is usually rendered as: “Hebrew” in English, from the ancient Greek “Ἑβραῖος” and the Latin “Hebraeus”.

The biblical word “Ivri” has the plural form Ivrim, or Ibrim. The definitive origin of the term “Hebrew” remains uncertain.[01]

The proto-morpheme of the word “Hebrew” (עברי) is: “ăbăr”, “ăpăr” or “ăfăr”.

In Semitic languages, it has been observed that “pharyngeal consonants”, “glottal fricative” and “glottal stop” are found as onsets of vowel-initial syllables. In addition, “kh sound”, can freely replace “ḥ sound”, and vise versa.

Accordingly: “ăbăr” is usually pronounced: ḥăbăr, ḣăbăr, hăbăr, ẖăbăr or ḫăbăr.

(ḥ) represents “voiceless pharyngeal fricative”. (ḥ sound)
(ḣ) represents “voiced pharyngeal fricative”. (Ayin)
(ẖ) represents glottal stop.
(ḫ) represents “voiceless velar fricative”. (kh sound)

Dust and ASHES:

“It is generally agreed that (ăpăr), in ancient Hebrew, denotes dust and similar material. This consensus is supported by the examination of many occurrences of (apar) in the Bible as well as cognate terms in other Semitic languages. That is, words in Akkadian, Ugaritic, Arabic, Aramaic, and Syriac that resemble the Hebrew apar also express a reality closely related to dust. The etymological proximity in Hebrew of apar and eper, and the association of eper with ashes and crumbled dust in Hebrew, as well as in other Semitic and Hamitic languages, confirm the assumption that dust is closely related to apar.” In Hebrew, this basic meaning of apar extends to connotations of soil, earth of the grave, mortar used for plastering houses, debris of houses and cities, ashes, and even dirt.” [02]

“ăbăr” cognates

As mentioned earlier, the proto-morpheme of the word: “Hebrew” (עברי) is: “ăbăr”(variants: “ăpăr” and “ăfăr”).
“ăbăr” is usually pronounced: hăbăr ḥăbăr, ḣăbăr,, ẖăbăr or ḫăbăr.
“ăbăr” cognates are found in Afroasiatic and Indo-European languages.

Examples:

Syriac: (ܚܲܒܝܼܪܵܐ / ḥăbirā= Coal-black, pitch-dark, utterly black.

Arabic: (ḥăbr or ḥăbār /، حبر، حبار)
= Stain, spot, smear, smudge, ink, print, mark, lettering, ornament.
– Black spots in a large white cloud.
– “Spot of hair” on the top of a bald head.
The name: “Houbara/Chlamydotis” (حُبارى) is derived from: (الحَبار/ḥăbār) = “traces, scars, signs”. Named thus because of its spotted back.

Hebrews and Habiru

Habiru (var. hapiru, ḫabiru, ʿApiru or ʿaperu) were a group of people located in the Near East during the second millennium b.c.

The Habiru first became known to historians with the publication of the Amarna letters at the end of the 19th century. Since that time the available sources of information on them have increased to almost 200 documents. These sources span at least seven centuries and concern the geographical area along the Fertile Crescent from Lower Mesopotamia to Egypt. [03]

It is not exactly clear where is the homeland of these “Habiru”. However, some scholars made “educated guesses” based on those documents.

There are many theories linking Habiru to the Hebrews. [04] But “It must be remembered, however, that Hebrew is a wider term than Israelite. The ḫabiru, though they maybe Hebrews, are not all Israelites”. [05]

Ḫabiru etymology

According to Wikipedia: the name: Habiru “was first discovered in its Akkadian version (ḫa-bi-ru) or (ḫa-pi-ru). Due to later findings in Ugaritic and Egyptian which used the consonants (ḣ, p and r), and in light of the well-established sound change from North Semitic (ḣ) to Akkadian (ḫ). The root of this name is proven to be: [ ḣ.p.r.] this root means (dust, dirt)”. “the research defined (dust) or (dirt) as the most probable meaning of Apiru.”.

Here we are told that: “ḫabiru” means: “dust” or “dirt”. The latter denotes “mud” or “soot”.
If Hebrew and habiru are the same name, then Hebrew may denote: “dust” or “SOOT”.

(ḣ) represents: “voiced pharyngeal fricative”. (Ayin)
(ḫ) represents “the voiceless velar fricative”. (kh sound)

Khaybar and ḫăbăr

Khaybar was a Jewish emirate, flourished in N.W. Arabia, shortly before the advent of Islam.
Khaybar town is located on a very high mountainous plateau entirely composed of lava deposits, containing very fertile valleys. The meaning of Khaybar has nothing to do with deserts or citadels, Khaybar is a name of a vast region, mostly covered by lava fields and dormant volcanoes.

Khabar is a by-form of ḫăbăr.
The root of Khaybar is {kh.b.r.}
The root of ḥăbăr is {ḥ.b.r.}

⟨ḫ⟩ represents “kh sound” (the voiceless velar fricative).
It is the Hebrew: (כ) and Arabic: (خ). Or (ch) in the Scots word: “Loch”.
The root of (ḫabiru) is the root of Khaybar:
[ ḫ.b.r ] = [ kh.b.r ]. Accordingly:

The meaning of Khaybar is: “dust”, “coal dust” or “Volcanic ash”

This may give the word: “Hebrew” another denotation, which is: “coal dust”.

“Fricative K”

/Kh/ is the Hebrew: (כ), Arabic: (خ), Akkadian (ḫ), Greek (x) or (ch) in Scottish English “loch” and German “Bauch”. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨x⟩
Diachronically, /K/ and /Kh/ are two allophones of the same phoneme.
/kh/ is the fricative variant of the speech sound /k/.
/kh/ is sometimes termed: “Fricative K”
/K/ => voiceless velar plosive.
/Kh/ => voiceless velar fricative.
Hebrew writing system has one grapheme to represent these two speech sounds: (כ)
It is a well known phenomenon that: /kh/ can freely replace /K/”, and vise versa.
This allows “ḫabiru” to become: “kabiru”.
The root of “ḫabiru” is [ḫ-b-r] or [kh-b-r].
The root of “kabiru” is [k-b-r].
Which may be related to the Akkadian: “kubrītu” or “kibrītu”.

kibrītu denotes: brimstone, sulfur or “black sulfur”.

Kipriti is a Hittite word, (originally a loanword from the Akkadian language).
In Akkadian morphology “-tu” or “-ti” is a ‘suffix’ or an ‘epithesis’, the “contentive morpheme” is: “kubrī” or “kibrī”.
Hittite is an extinct Indo-European language, related to Latin and ancient Greek.
Hittite “kubrī” or “kibrī” might be the Latin word: “carbo = coal, charred”, (after metathesis).

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[01] — “Hebrew”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago. 2009.
[02] — Amzallag, N. “The Forgotten Meaning of ʿāpār in Biblical Hebrew”. JAOS, vol. 137, no. 4, Dec. 2021, pp. 767 783,doi:10.7817/jameroriesoci.137.4.0767.
[03] — www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/habiru-habiri
[04] — Smith, Homer W. (1952). Man and His Gods. New York: Grosset & Dunlap. p. 89.
[05] — Journal of Biblical Literature. (1913). United States: Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis.
[06]- Hittite Etymological Dictionary by Jaan Puhvel

[07] – James Clackson, Geoffrey Horrocks, “The Blackwell History of the Latin Language”.