Proto-North Caucasian: *wiršwi
Meaning: place
Notes: The root *wiršwi is accompanied by a common nasal suffix (*-nV) in Av.-And., Tsez. (where *mužǝ < *bužǝn), probably also Khin. (with a similar development) and Lak. (with a regular dropping of the initial syllable beginning with a labial: ša-nu < *wVrša-nu). All correspondences are regular (except for some unexpected things within Andian languages, see above) and the PNC reconstruction seems reliable.
Abdokov (1983, 127) compares the Adygh morpheme with PA *ʔiš- 'home, at home' (And. išu, Botl. iš-q:e, Bagv. iša, Cham. ehi, Gig. išu, Kar. eše - see Gudava 1964, 116). The Andian root, however, is isolated within EC, as well as somewhat more remote semantically; the comparison with EC *wiršwi seems to us preferable.
