PROTO: *Hläƛ̣V
MEANING: liver
COMMENT: Reconstructed for the PEC level. Length of the final vowel is unclear: the Av. paradigm C and the structure of the root in PA (*RVCV) point to a short vowel; however, Eastern Dagestan forms presuppose a form like *Hläƛ̣V̄. Metathesized *Hƛ̣älV might have also existed (cf. Avar ṭul - if it belongs here, see above), in which case we can also compare Urart. zel-dǝ 'liver' (see Diakonoff-Starostin 1986, 48-49).
Abdokov's (1982, 83) attempt to compare this root with WC *c̣ʷA 'liver' should be regarded as unsuccessful (for phonetic reasons, and because of a better etymology for the WC form, q.v.).
