しばれる

Etymology
Northern dialect, used in the Tōhoku and Hokkaidō areas.

Speculatively, shibareru might be related to, similar to the way that English includes an intransitive sense of "to become immobile". However, no Japanese etymological reference yet consulted includes any such derivation.

First cited definitively to 1929. Circumstantially, mentioned in Denjuro Matsuda's work  about Hokkaido and, published in the 1820s, as having been used for 200 years.

A second derivation connects this with due to superficial similarities. However, considering the Matsuda work indicating usage since the early 1600s, well before contact with English speakers, this appears to be no more than a folk etymology.

Verb

 * 1)   to be freezing, to be extremely cold