Proto-North Caucasian: *nV̆č̣ē (~,-ī)
Meaning: oak-tree
Notes: The root is well attested in PN and PWC, but has left no traces in most EC languages. Khaidakov (1973) cites two other forms: Lak. maža 'oak-tree' and And. noži id., but if they are genuine (the source is not very reliable), they must be ultimately borrowed from Nakh (see above about the reconstruction of *č̣ in PN, which later changed to -ž- (-ǯ-) in Chech. and Ing.).
Further connections of the root are not quite clear. Borrowing from the supposed Proto-Iranian *nauča- 'some coniferous tree' (see about this root under *ɦwmĭc̣_Ĕ) is not very probable - both semantically (the root *nV̆č̣ē means only leaf-bearing trees in NC languages) and phonetically (because a glottalised *č̣ is reconstructed). Thus for the time being we prefer to regard this root as genuine - until further research is done.
