Protoform: *ʔinqʷa
Meaning: 1 oats 2 barley
Avar: níχa 1
Akhvakh: ũqa 2
Comments: Av. paradigm A (gen. níχ-dal; cf. also in Uslar's notation: néχa, néχa-dal, néχa-bi). Within Andian languages the genuine root is preserved only in Akhv. ũqa (cf. also Ratl. ũqa; the MSU recording ũq:a 'barley' is probably faulty). All other Andian forms (Akhv. Tseg., Tlan. niχa, And., Cham., Tind., Kar., Botl., Bagv., God. niχa) are no doubt recent loans from Avar. In Akhv. Magomedbekova lists also North. Akhv., Ratl. niqa 'oats' - this may be either a more ancient loan, or a contamination of niχa and ũqa (note that the MSU recordings list North. Akhv. niχa 'oats' - obviously a loanword). The Av. word was borrowed also in Tsezian languages: Tsez. neχa, Khvarsh., Inkh. niχa 'oats'.
A word oq: 'barley' is recorded for Southern Avar dialects (MSU: Chad. oq, Mikailov: Ants. oq:). Since it can not correspond to Akhv. ũqa, we must suppose that this is a more or less recent loan from some Andian language.
