Meaning:1 plain, flat land; flat (adj.) 2 field 3 ground 4 plaza, town square
Bizkaian:zelai 1, (Arratia) 3, (arc) 4
Gipuzkoan:zelai 1
High Navarrese:zelai 1, (Irun, Lezaka) 2
Low Navarrese:zelhai 1
Lapurdian:zelhai 1
Baztanese:zelai 1
Comments:Azkue explains: "zelai ... es más bien paraje llano que campo ni prado ..." 'zelai is rather flat place than field or meadow', also used as the adjective 'flat, level', exactly like PEC *ʒ_ǝlV.
Comments:The LAB word is more precisely defined as "haz ó pila de leña para hacer carbón / meule de bois qu'on transforme en charbon." The connection with funeral practices (cf. Dargi *c̣elt:a 'tombstone') is given by Tovar (1961): "[Iberian] <<s-e-l-da-r>> on several tombstones corresponds very well to the Basque <<seldor>> ... as the Iberians burned their dead." Cf. Bsq *sendo-r̄: These words have apparently contaminated or merged.
Comments:An eastern Bsq word: the western counterpart is (BZK, GIP) gaztanbera (see *gastana 'cheese', *gac 'salt'). This word *sen- is not related to Bsq *e=śene ‘milk’, as some have thought. This is shown by the regular sibilant correspondences: PNC *ʒ́ = Bsq *s, but PNC *š = Bsq *ś.
Meaning:load of firewood (destined for making charcoal)
Bizkaian:sendor
Gipuzkoan:zendor
Comments:Note that Bsq s [ś] and z [s] have merged in parts of BZK. Cf. *śeldor̄ (491): both words have apparently merged or contaminated each other.
Comments:The short form *se is used in certain situations (see Azkue). From this stem *se- other interrogative forms are derived, such as (c) zein 'which', ze-la 'how', etc.
Comments:Cf. PNC *š_wĕʒV 'a k. of biting insect'. Sibilant harmony has operated on the expected Bsq *śic (~ *śac). Bsq *śać 'ordure' is a homonym.
Comments:Cf. Span. cigarra 'cicada' (Hualde 1995), which resembles Bsq zigar in form, though there is a vast physical difference between the large insect and the tiny arthropod. Cigarra is ostensibly from Lat. cicada or cicala, but the trilled /r̄/ could indicate some kind of influence from the Bsq word.
Comments:Contra Michelena (1961: 346, 413), who cited Bsq zihi as a variant of ziri, in this analysis *siHi is etymologically distinct from *siri / *sil- 'peg, wedge', etc., *siHi 'rush, reed', and *sini 'acorn' (q.v.). For compound elements see *burdina 'iron',*ha[l]i 'thread'. The Bsq word could have been *sinHi, but there is no evidence in this case from dialects with nasal vowels (ZBR, RNC).
Bizkaian:(Arratia, Orozko, Txorierri) zii, zi, (Durango, Gernika, Mañaria) zi
Comments:A western Bsq (BZK) etymon. Proto-Bsq could have been *sinHi, but there is no evidence of nasal vowels in the extant forms (no BZK-arc or ZBR or RNC forms). Phonetically similar to Bsq *siHi 'wedge, skewer', etc., but etymologically distinct.
Proto-Basque:*sikirio
Meaning:rye
Bizkaian:zikirio
Gipuzkoan:zikirio
Comments:This resembles eastern Bsq zek(h)ale 'rye' < Latin sēcale, but the syllabic structure is such that it cannot be a direct loan. The close phonetic and semantic resemblance to Rutul sɨḳɨl, Tsakhur sɨḳɨĺ 'rye' is quite striking, but (according to NCED) these are secondary formations from PEC *sūli, with the addition of a diminutive suffix, and then metathesis (PL *s:ol-Vḳ > *s:oḳol). For the comparison with Basque to be valid requires a parallel process in pre-Basque. Similar words are widespread in western Eurasia (see the notes to PEC sūli). Latin sēcale ‘rye’ is not Indo-European either; cf. also Albanian thékërë ‘rye, grain’.
Comments:Several forms exhibit expressive palatalization of the initial /č/, /š/ and the diminutive suffix *-ko. Some other Bsq words meaning 'paunch' or 'tallow' (gilbor, bilgor, bilkor) are unrelated, but apparently have contaminated with zilbor, txilbor, etc. Bengtson (Dhumbadji! 4.1, 1998) proposed a comparison of Bsq *sil with Tabasaran c̣ul 'navel' and Dargi č̣ilič̣a id., but it is problematic.
Meaning:1 peg, wedge, pin (wooden) 2 stake, post, picket (used in making the stack of wood for charcoal) 3 thin pole planted in the ground as an axis for a pile of wheat 4 thin pole in the ground as a marker 5 large pole for moving the stone in a limekiln
Bizkaian:ziri 1, zill-aga 2
Gipuzkoan:ziri 1, (Andoain) ziri 4
High Navarrese:ziri 1
Low Navarrese:ziri 1
Lapurdian:ziri 1, (Ainhoa) zirikaga 5
Baztanese:ziri 3
Zuberoan:ziri 1
Roncalese:ziri 1
Comments:The second segment of BZK zillaga and LAB zirikaga seems to be *haga 'pole, rod' (q.v.).
Comments:GIP and BNV have diminutive palatalized forms. Mitxelena mentions the GIP disparaging nickname Zingurri 'Ant'. BZK iñurri, ZBR üñhǘrri exhibit irregular loss of initial /s/, or blended with a distinct initial element (?). Cf. PNC *ʒHĔmVḳĂ 'ant'.
Comments:As often in expressive words, ordinary (z-) and expressive (tx-) affricates coexist. This word is the likely origin of Spanish cencerro 'cowbell'.
Comments:Aulestia & White cite: txingor ‘hail, hailstorm’, txingor egin ‘to hail’, txingorrada, txingorraldi ‘hailstorm’. Analyzed here with expressive palatal < *[s]in[g]o, and expressive /n/, as in Khwarshi zang-eru ‘hail’.
