JMS compares the name Kolob with an Arabic root meaning "to turn."
Janne M. Sjodahl, “The Book of Abraham,” Improvement Era 16, no. 4 (February 1913): 329–330
Dr. Sayce ventures the assertion that the word "kolob," used by the Prophet Joseph, is not Egyptian. How does he know? Does he know every word in the entire Egyptian literature? It in certainly a Semitic word. By referring to an Arabic dictionary we find that it is still used in the Arabian language As a verb it means "to turn," and a derivative might very properly be used as a noun to denote the center around which something turns, as it is used in the illustration in the Book of Abraham. The Arabian verb "qalaba" has many derivatives. We find it in the term "inqilab ashshams" which means "solstice," and in "qalb ulaqrab," which is the name for the star Alpha in the constellation Scorpio. This is proof enough that the word [Kolob] is used in the Semitic group of languages as an astronomical term, whether it is Egyptian or not, and it is not improbable that Abraham, a Semite, should so use it.