Where does “kobra” come from?

kobra (Cebuano) comes from English cobra, from Portuguese cobra, from Old Portuguese coobra, from Vulgar Latin colobra, from Latin colubra, from Latin -a, from Proto-Italic -ā, from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂.

kobra (Cebuano): to collect payment (such as bills, debts, bets (esp. in jueteng), etc

Definitions

  1. to collect payment (such as bills, debts, bets (esp. in jueteng), etc

Ancestry of “kobra”, step by step

kobra traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English cobra

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishcobraAny of various venomous snakes of the family...
2Portuguesecobrasnake
3Old Portuguesecoobrasnake
4Vulgar Latincolobra—
5Latincolubraa female snake, serpent; snake, serpent
6Latin-asuffixed to the roots of verbs, forms agent...
7Proto-Italic-āForms masculine agent nouns from prefixed or compounded bases
8Proto-Indo-European-éh₂—

via Spanish cobrar

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Spanishcobrarto charge; to collect; to gather up
2Vulgar Latin*cuperāre—
3Latinrecuperāre—
4Latinreciperāre—
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂ →Every word from Latin -a →Every word from Latin colubra →