Comment: This pronoun stem is normally used in compounds (in Arch. e-mi-k 'there', e-mi-ši '(towards) there' probably an assimilative vowel fronting < *ʔa-mi-); separate usage attested only in Lezg. a 'that'. Cf. also Rut. a-r-baj, Tsakh. a-d 'inside'. See Алексеев 1985, 75.
Comment: In Lezg. the root -a is also used with preverbs (aw-a,al-a,gal-a,gʷ-a etc.). The two stems (*ʔa and *ʔi; *i sometimes changes to u due to the labialising influence of some class prefixes) are opposed in most languages, but it is difficult to separate them from each other. In some cases they are opposed in tense/aspect (e.g. in Archi), but in most cases *ʔa tends to mean 'to be (available), to have', while *ʔi is a simple verb of existence. The original difference must have been aspectual, and the two stems were probably connected by a usual Ablaut *a / *i.
Comment: Cf. also Lezg. pret. awu-na, Rut. pres. =ɨʔɨ-r ( < =iʔɨ-r). The root demonstrates the Ablaut *a/*i (besides Lezg. iji-, Rut. =ɨʔɨ- cf. also Tab. Düb. dur. iṗu-r-). Tab. -ṗ- is a result of cohesion (class marker -b- + the root laryngeal -ʔ-).
In Ag. the general word for 'do, make' is aq̇a-s (see *ʔaq̇a-). It seems possible, however, to derive from PL *ʔaʔa(r)- the Ag. (Rich.) word for 'to put through', q-uf- ( < *q-V-p-ʔ-): cf. Ag. Bursh. q-arq̇a- (from the root *ʔaq̇a-), Tab. q-aṗ- 'to put through'.
The Shakhdagh data speak strongly in favour of the original *-r-conjugation, although the reasons for loss of -r- in Tsakhur (which usually preserves it well) are not clear.
Comment: Cf. Ag. Tp. f-acan- 'to catch' (pointing to *-n-conjugation in PL). Arch. sa- reflects the Ablaut grade *ʔica(n)-. In Kryz. cf. also ʕacn- 'to put inside' (the stem -(a)cn- in Kryz. is used only as durative - in pres. and prohib.). There may have existed a similar root *ʔaca- 'to put on (clothes)': Ag. q-ac-, Tp. q-aca- (with -0-conjugation, opposed to f-acan- with -n-conjugation), Arch. a=sa-.
Comment: Cf. also Lezg. pret. ac:a-na, Ag. Bursh. uza-s. The verb belongs to the weak class.
An old derivate of this root is PL (*ʔac:är >) *c:är 'cow', reflected in Rut. zär (zírɨ-), Tsakh. zer (zera-), Kryz. ʒar (ʒɨr-), Al. zar (zɨr-), Bud. zar, which is identic to Bacb. -ettar 'milch cow'. Another deverbal noun is (*ʔac:al) > Ag. azal "enclosure for milking sheep" ( = Av. Chad. ʕenžer).
See Бокарев 1961, 69; Лексика 1971, 246; Гигинейшвили 1977, 84.
Comment: Cf. Lezg. pret. q:aču-na. The Lezg. form (in -u-) points to labialisation of *čʷ, which was early lost in the PL *-ɨ-conjugation. We should also compare (with *a/*i Ablaut) the Shakhdagh verb of motion: Kryz. pres. čä-ri, imper. =ič- 'to go', Bud. imper. w-ič id.; cf. also the Tab. imperative ʁa=č (Düb. q:a=č) 'come!' (formally quite close to Lezg. q:aču-), perhaps also Ag. ača- in ača-baI-s,ača-dis (compound verbs) 'to enter'.
Comment: Cf. also Ag. Bursh. it:-aj xis. The stem demonstrates the PL *a/*i Ablaut (ä in Rut. is not quite clear) and belongs to the weak conjugation class; the Kryz. and Bud. forms are reduplicated. Tab. and Ag. have preserved only participial forms combined with auxiliary verbs. Cf. also the PL derivate *jic̣:al(a) 'sickness, disease, pain': Lezg. ṭal, Ag. it:al, Rut. jaddal (Shin. jatal, Mükhr. jed:al, Mishl. jadal).
See Бокарев 1961, 71; Лексика 1971, 135; Гигинейшвили 1977, 107.
Comment: The Tab. and Rut. reflexes clearly point to PL *-c̣:-, and the word is very probably related with PN *ʒʡāra; thus we must think that Darg. Chir. ʕaIrt:are (whence Arch. aIt:ǝra) 'enclosure' is borrowed from Tab. (or Agul) already after the change *-c̣:- > -t:-.
Comment: -ʕ- in Kryz. is not quite clear: it may reflect pharyngealisation (although external data do not support this view), or may be a result of contamination with the root -äʕ- 'to throw' (see PL *ʔIähɨ).
Comment: The suffixless root is preserved in Agul; all other languages have derivates with locative suffixes (Rut. sa-ʔ is a reduction < *ʔasa-ʔ "in the bottom"). In Tab. cf. also asi-na 'downwards', Düb. is-di 'below'. The attested forms do not allow to distinguish between PL *s: and *s (if Lezg. Khl. ħäze 'below' belongs here, it can indicate PL *s:).
Comment: Cf. also Ag. Bursh. uga- / agʷa- 'to search'. Belongs to the weak verb class. Reconstruction of *-ä is conditioned by Lezg. (ak:ʷa-, praet. ak:u-na), Rut. (-a=gʷa-, plur. -a=gʷe-s) and Arch. (-u-s) forms. With a preverb cf. Rut. aq-a=gʷa- 'to find'.
See Бокарев 1961, 63; Лексика 1971, 243; Гигинейшвили 1977, 78.
Comment: Cf. also Arch. =irk:u- 'to search'. The PL reconstruction is somewhat difficult, because the root tends to contaminate with other verbal roots: in Archi it has been influenced by ak:u-s 'to see' (see PL *ʔak:ʷä-), in Agul - by -ark- (used with different preverbs) 'to fall upon, to hit' (see PL *ʔarkɨr-).