Proto-North Caucasian: *lĕHwV ( ~ ɫ-)
Meaning: word
Notes: An interesting Tsez-Darg. isogloss - although not very reliable (because it is preserved only in two languages). With a regular shift *l- > PHU *t- cf. perhaps also PHU *tiw- : Hurr. tiwe 'word; thing'; Ur. ti(j)- 'to say', ti-nǝ 'name' (see Diakonoff-Starostin 1986, 53). If this parallel is correct, then Darg. luʕi and Inkh. loje must be regarded as an archaism, lost in most modern EC languages. [Note that Av. raʕi 'word', cited ibid., does not belong here, being a derivate of ráʕi-ze < *-ĭq̇Ē 'to hear'].
