Protoform: *r-iƛo- / *ʔiƛo-
Meaning: sheath, scabbard, case
Avar: ʎel
Chadakolob: tel
Andian language: reʎoba
Akhvakh: iƛa
Chamalal: jeʎab
Tindi: reʎab
Karata: ʎeli
Godoberi: reʎel
Comments: Av. paradigm C (ʎalí-l, ʎúl-dul, Chad. telá-l/telú-l, téla-l). Cf. also Akhv. Tseg., Tlan. inʎar, Ratl. inƛal (in the Tseg. and Ratl. dialects the stem merged with PA *ʔinƛVr 'bosom' q.v., but in North. Akhv. and in Tlan. the two stems are still different: iƛa vs. iƛari, inʎar vs. inʎari). Av. > Gin. ʎel.
The listed forms are all derived from a verbal stem *-iƛ- - which is itself preserved only with the meaning 'to lead' (for the semantic shift cf. the meaning in Darg., and also cases like Chech. =āl-ō 'to lead' - formally causative from =āl- 'to be(come), be situated'): cf. Akhv. =eƛ- (Tseg., Tlan. =eʎ-, Ratl. =eƛ-), Kar. =eʎ-, Tind. =eʎ-. We should perhaps relate here also Cham. =aʎ- 'to begin' (cf. similar semantic development in Tsezian languages and elsewhere).
