Proto-North Caucasian: *mV̆[c]V
Meaning: hunger
Notes: The Nakh, Andian and Lezgian forms must be related, although phonetic correspondences are rather strange in this root. Unclear is the syllable *-kʷa- in PA, as well as the tense *s: in PL. Perhaps we should reconstruct here a rare cluster of two medial stops (*mV̆kwcV) or a trisyllabic structure, like in PA? Another solution may be provided by an isolated form, attested in Tsez. (Kid.): mekaχ 'hunger' - The PA form could be a compound *makʷac- < *makʷa-mac- (where the first component = Tsez. meka-, and the second component = PN *maci-). On the whole, a rather obscure case.
