Var. , irkabu, argabu.
Probably related to PS *ˁakbar- ‘mouse, jerboa’ with a meaning shift and metathesis. The phonetic shape of the Akk. term and its meaning have been convincingly established in a special study Civil 1984a (contrast ‘a bird’ in CAD I 177, ‘Taube’ in AHw. 67; note that the translation ‘bat’ is present in some earlier studies such as Landsberger 1934 97, Biggs 1967 25).