What is word origin of the Hebrew term 'yibum'?
"Yibum" (with the root yod-bet-mem) comes from the Syriac y-v-m which has the same meaning as in Hebrew/Aramaic: levirate marriage.
If you are interested you can also look up the variations in Brown-Driver-Briggs and Strong's Concordance #2992, 2993 and 2994 and in the Sokoloff Dictionary.of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic or the Jastrow Dictionary of Aramaic.
Answered by: Rabbi Ute Steyer