しばれる

Northern dialect, used in the Tōhoku and Hokkaidō areas.

Speculatively, shibareru might be related to 縛る (shibaru, “to bind, to tie up”, transitive), similar to the way that English freeze includes an intransitive sense of "to become immobile". However, no Japanese etymological reference yet consulted includes any such derivation.

First cited definitively to 1929. Circumstantially, mentioned in Denjuro Matsuda's (松田伝十郎) work 北夷談 (Hokuidan, literally “Northern Barbarian Tales”) about Hokkaido and Sakhalin, published in the 1820s, as having been used for 200 years.

A second derivation connects this with English shivering due to superficial similarities. However, considering the Matsuda work indicating usage since the early 1600s, well before contact with English speakers, this appears to be no more than a folk etymology.

• IPA^(key):

しばれる • (shibareru) intransitive godan (stem しばれり (shibareri), past しばれった (shibaretta))

1. (dialect, Tōhoku, Hokkaidō) to be freezing, to be extremely cold

   Synonyms: (to freeze) 凍る (kōru), (to become very cold) 冷え込む (hiekomu)