Proto-North Caucasian: *s_HwinṭV
Meaning: snuff, smell; snot
Notes: The word was widely borrowed from Av. into other languages of Daghestan - probably because in Av. it came to mean 'snuff' (an object of busy trade). However, in Av. and PL the forms are probably genuine (because of phonetic and semantic differences). It is possible that *-ṭV is originally a suffix here (see notes on the Av. form); in that case we can compare Hurr. šūnǝ 'breath, soul, self' (see Diakonoff-Starostin 1986, 32). [Cf. also Georg. c̣winṭli 'snot' > Bacb. sinṭr id.?].