The latest viral internet trend is creating AI-generated images in the style of Studio Ghibli. You've very likely seen them by now—or maybe even created some yourself.

They look something like this:

But did you know there's a connection between Ghibli and a very common Hebrew root?

As noted, the images are inspired by the style of Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation (anime) studio. The Wikipedia entry gives this explanation for the origin of the studio’s name:

The name "Ghibli" was chosen by Miyazaki from the Italian noun ghibli (also used in English), the nickname of Italy's Saharan scouting plane Caproni Ca.309, in turn derived from the Italianization of the Libyan Arabic name for a hot desert wind (قبلي qibliyy). The name was chosen by Miyazaki due to his passion for aircraft and also for the idea that the studio would "blow a new wind through the anime industry.".Although the Italian word would be more accurately transliterated as "Giburi" (ギブリ), with a hard g sound, the studio's name is written in Japanese as Jiburi.

And where does the name of the wind come from? The Wiktionary entry for ghibli defines it as: "sirocco (a hot, dust-carrying desert wind in North Africa, somewhat similar to the foehn)." The sirocco is a similar type of wind to the hamsin familiar in Israel.

The same entry also provides this etymology:

From Italian ghibli, from the Libyan Arabic form of Standard Arabic قِبْلِيّ (qibliyy, “coming from the qibla”)

The two Hebrew words, פֶּרֶךְ perekh and פָּרֹכֶת parokhet, look like they should be related. But are they?

The word פֶּרֶךְ appears six times in the Tanakh. Twice it describes the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt, three times in Vayikra in laws prohibiting harsh treatment of Israelite servants, and once in Yechezkel, in the prophet's criticism of the leaders of Israel.

For example, we read:

וַיַּעֲבִדוּ מִצְרַיִם אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּפָרֶךְ

"And the Egyptians made the Israelites work with harshness."

(Shemot 1:13)

The word פֶּרֶךְ is an abstract noun, and in every biblical occurrence it is preceded by the preposition ב־. The phrase בְּפָרֶךְ therefore functions adverbially, describing how the work or rule was imposed. It is commonly translated "harshly," "ruthlessly," or "with rigor."

Some translations make the meaning more specific. Robert Alter translates the verse, "And the Egyptians put the Israelites to work at crushing labor," and explains that he understands the word according to a root meaning "to break into pieces" or "to pulverize." Everett Fox similarly has "with crushing-labor," following the early rabbinic interpretation.

These translations capture one important understanding of פֶּרֶךְ, but "labor" is not actually contained in the word פֶּרֶךְ. It is supplied from the context. This becomes particularly clear in Vayikra, where בְּפָרֶךְ modifies the verb רדה, "to rule," rather than עבד, "to work." So a translation such as "with harshness" or "with severity" more closely reflects the grammatical form of the word.

The interpretation reflected by Alter and Fox has a long history. Rashi explains פֶּרֶךְ as עבודה קשה המפרכת את הגוף ומשברתו, hard labor that breaks down the body. And the root פרך is indeed used in later Hebrew with the meaning "break, crush, crumble." Klein defines it as "to break, crush, rub, grind, crumble."