Protoform: *nisV
Meaning: 1 linen 2 cloth 3 cobweb 4 loom
Avar: nusí 1,3
Akhvakh: niša 2, niši 3
Chamalal: nis 4
Tindi: nisa / nisi 4
Comments: Av. paradigm B (gen. nusí-dul). In some languages the root is also used within a distorted compound meaning 'spider' (see under *χwarVcV), cf., e.g., God. nusaχar. Cf. also Tind. is:qara-nis 'cobweb'. In the MSU recordings we find Cham. (U-Gakv.) nis 'loom': this is obviously the same word as nis: 'cloth' (recorded by Bokarev with a misspelling - or, perhaps due to contamination with a word reflected in Cham. Gig. as nis:u 'rope' and quite different etymologically: < PA *mirš:ʷi q.v.).
