Comment: Cf. also Lezg. Khl. nac̣ʷ (preserving the original labialisation which was lost everywhere else); Tsakh. Gelm. nac̣a. The latter form unambiguously points to the PL paradigm *nac̣ʷa,*nac̣ʷä- (cf. also Rut. nac̣a-; Tsakh. Mik. nac̣,nac̣ɨ- is secondary). In Ag. there occurred a regular fronting *a > e before a hissing affricate in a closed syllable. 4th class in Rut., Tsakh.
Comment: In Arch. -L- regularly < -ƛ̣:- through assimilation (cf. in the predicative function naIƛ̣:;naIƛ̣ as 'to make blue', naIƛ̣ kes 'to become blue' etc.).
Comment: Other relevant forms: Lezg. lit. erg. neṭ-re; Khl. pl. net:er; Arch. erg. nec̣:iri. 3d class (to judge from the Arch. form). Obl. vowel base unclear; the existing evidence points only to the PL oblique base in *-rV-, cf. Lezg. neṭre, Tab. nic:ru, Arch. nec̣:iri. See Талибов 1960а, 297; Лексика 1971, 150; Гигинейшвили 1977, 72, 106.
Comment: Cf. also Lezg. erg. neḳe-di, Rut. Ikhr. nek, obl. neg:i-di-. Most languages reflect only consonantal oblique stems (in *-t:V, *-rV or *-nV; Arch. neIƛ̣:i- is not informative for the PL reconstruction); however, we can reconstruct the PL Ablaut *ä/i, reflected in the Tsakh. paradigm ńak,nik-ne-. In Udi the pure root means 'buttermilk, whey'; the meaning 'milk' is rendered by a compound muč:Ia-naq: (lit. 'sweet whey').
Comment: Cf. also Lezg. erg. naʁʷa-di, Khl. naʁʷ,naʁʷa-di; Tab. Kand. niqʷ, Düb. nuq. The archaic oblique stem *niqʷV- is reflected in Tsakh. ńuq-ne-. There is not enough evidence for reconstructing the final vowel in the obl. base (most languages have here consonantal obl. bases). 4th class in all class-distinguishing languages.
Comment: Cf. also Tab. Kand. nuq̇ 'earth', Düb. nuq̇u id. 3d class in Rut. and Tsakh., but 4th class in Arch., Kryz. and Bud. Obl. base *niq̇ʷɨ- (cf. *näq̇ʷɨ- with vowel levelling in Tsakh. Gelm. naq̇ʷɨ-, Arch. neq̇ʷi-, Ag. neq̇ʷi-; the -i-vocalism is reflected in a secondary building - Tsakh. Mik. ńuq̇-ne-).
Comment: Obl. base *näṭa- (cf. Tsakh. naṭa-) - but more frequent is the consonantal obl. base *näṭ-rV- (Lezg. neṭre-, Tab. niṭru-, Rut. näṭir-, Arch. neṭir-). 3d class in Rut. and Tsakh., but 4th class in Arch. The Udi form is the most archaic (preserving the original order of consonants, see below), but it is hard to establish the underlying PL form (both *ṭän and *ṭäH with some laryngeal are possible).
Comment: The Ag. and Tab. forms reflect a compound *ʔʷil 'eye' + *näṭ(a); cf. also Ag. Bursh. uneṭ / urneṭ (preserving a trace of original liquid *-l-).
