Proto-North Caucasian: *tāmɦĭ (~-ɨ̆,-ŭ)
Meaning: vein; pipe, kennel
Notes: Cf. also the HU evidence: Hurr. tem-ari 'irrigation ditch, canal' (see Diakonoff-Starostin 1986, 25). The original meaning must have been 'pipe, kennel ~ blood pipe, vein'. The PC form suggests rather short *-ă- against the WC evidence implying long *-ā-; however, since the form is attested only in Gunz. and the vowel is nasalized (nasalisation often shifts vowel reflexes), we prefer to reconstruct a long vowel in PNC.
