Proto-North Caucasian: *ɦǝ̄mVc̣_ŏ ( ~ ʕ-,-ʒ_-)
Meaning: stone
Notes: The root is not widely spread, but correspondences are regular, and the etymology seems secure.
The WC (Adygh) form had been compared by several authors with several different EC roots: PA *mizV (see under *wɨlʒwV) 'big stone', Arch. mač̣a 'flint', Lak. nuwč̣a id. (see under *mHōK(V)ć̣V), Ud. žeI 'stone' (with an uncertain EC etymology); see Trubetzkoy 1930, Rogava 1956, Abdokov 1983, 96. For phonetic reasons the present comparison seems to us more appropriate than the rest.
