It is interesting to note that the word for "hawk" in Gunz. is gudba-q (derived from gud-ba "fowl"), and in Abkhaz we have a-ḳʷǝṭ-rǝ́-χ́š́ 'a hawk hunting for fowl' (á-χ́š́ 'hawk') and a-ḳʷǝṭ-rǝ́-bga / a-ḳʷṭǝ́-r-bga 'fox' (á-bga 'fox'). In both cases we have forms containing PNC *gwāṭV 'hen' (q.v.), and phonetically close to the root *gwērdV that we are dealing with. This may have several explanations:

    a) a pure coincidence (which is rather unlikely);

    b) the root *gwērdV meaning 'beast or bird of prey' merged in Gunz. and Abkh. with *gwāṭV (Gunz. gudo, Abkh. a-ḳʷṭǝ́) and came to mean 'bird of prey hunting for fowl';

    c) the PEC root *gwērdV could be assimilated from *gwērṭV < *gwēṭV-rV-, representing the oblique base of *gwāṭV 'hen', and was itself actually meaning '(one hunting) for fowl' in PNC.

    [One may note also an aberrant form: Bezht. Tlad. kordaḳo 'kite' which may represent a contamination of this root with another one, reflected in Bezht. Khosh. korzaḳo id.].

    We are inclined to accept the third hypothesis (because it explains well all the semantic diversity in modern EC reflexes).