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From حَرْبَة(ḥarba, “dart, javelin; weapon in a general sense”) from the root ح ر ب(ḥ-r-b); likely a reference to the projectile-like tongue of a chameleon. Cognate with Akkadian𒁇𒁯𒁯𒉡(/ḫurbabillu/, “chameleon”) and Eblaite𒄯𒁀𒌝(ḫur.ba.um, “chameleon”).
Deriving from the root ح ر ب(ḥ-r-b) in the sense of "becoming enraged or to grow agitated", as the changing of color is used idiomatically to denote changes in states or moods in Semitic Languages.
Alternatively, philologist Georg Freytag lists it as from a Persian خربا(xorbâ) (> خوربان(xwarbân, “sun-keeper”)), giving the meaning “guardian of the sun”; perhaps related to Persianآفتابپرست(âftâb-parast, “chameleon”, literally “sun-worshiper”).
Freytag, Georg (1830) “حرباء”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 361
Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “حرباء”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc (in French), volume 1, Paris: Maisonneuve et Cie, page 403
Leonid Kogan (2006), Animal Names: 4.3. Lizards in Babel und Bibel 3: Annual of Ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic Studies, Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns in conjunction with the Russian State University for Humanities, page 298, note 177
