Cf. kǝnfār, konfār 'hump, arm, front of leg of an animal' [LGz 287]), with a meaning shift 'the projecting part of the head' > 'the projecting parts of the body'?

    There is little doubt that the ARB example is cognate of the ETH ones which therefore are not borrowed from CUSH (see comprehensive discussion in [LGz 287]).

    Note the meaning 'edge, brim' in ETH to compare with AKK kibru (kipru) 'edge, shore, bank' OA on [CAD k 334], [AHw 471]; though in both sources kibru is quoted as the basic form, it may rather be kipru (<*kinpVr-), if the comparison is valid. In this case one must assume either an homonymy of the two SEM terms, 'tip of the muzzle/snout; lip' and 'edge, brim ' or a derivation of the former from the latter implied by the AFRASIAN cognates.

    That the root is "expressive" may account for a series of variant roots in ARB (kunt_ur-, kant_arat- 'gland du pénis; mufle, bout du museau de l'âne [BK 2 933]; ḳanfar-, ḳunfūr- 'verge, pénis; orifice' [ibid. 825]) and MSA (MHR QISHN kǝrfī́f 'lip' [SSL 1 278], HRS kerōf 'to sniff' [JH 69], JIB kɛrféf 'face' [JJ 134] and metathetic ḳǝfrér 'lip' [SSL 1 279]).

    [LGz 287]: GEZ, ETH, ARB (comparison with AKK kipru and MSA kǝrfī́f etc. considered unlikely)