abara

The Arabic word abara signifies to prick, to sting; we see this root in the Welsh bar, a summit, and pâr, a spear, and per, a spit; whence our word spear.

Atlantis : the antediluvian world Ignatius Donnelly 1866

Beth-barah from that place so near Jordan, or Beth-abara, from the etymology before mentioned, it is no absurdity for the further bank of Jordan, which lay contiguous to the bridge or passage over it, to be called "Beth-barah beyond Jordan," either upon the one or the other account.

From the Talmud and Hebraica 1602-1675 1979

(house of the ford), named only in (Judges 7: 24) It derived its chief interest in the possibility that its more modern representative may have been Beth-abara, where John baptized.

Smith's Bible Dictionary 1884