Proto-Nakh: *=āʎ- / -iʎ-
Meaning: to become, get
Chechen: =āl-
Ingush: =al-
Batsbi: =aʎ-
Comments: A very polysemic root. It is used in all three languages as an auxiliary with the meaning 'to become'; as a separate verb it can mean 'to grow; to shoot; to cross (e.g. a river); to live up to; to go away, out', with more or less the same set of meanings in all Nakh languages. The attested Ablaut grades are *=āʎ- (see above), *=ēbʎ- (Chech. =īl-, Bacb. =epl- = -ebʎ-), *=ōʎ- (Bacb. =oʎ-), *=ā-b-ʎ- (Chech. =owl-). It is also very probable, that the short Ablaut grade *-iʎ- with the preverb *χ- has yielded the common Nakh verb of being, *χiʎ- > Chech., Ing. χil-, Bacb. χiʎ-.
Bacbian in Kadagidze's recordings has a uniform -ʎ-; Desheriyev, however, writes =al- in the meaning 'to become' (Matsiyev writes =aʎ- 'to become', but =al- 'to go away'). The reason for these variations may be contamination with another widely spread common Nakh verb *=ill- / *=ēbl- / *=ōl(l) 'to put, to begin/finish etc.' (also very polysemic).
