Proto-North Caucasian: *q̇_ǝ̄rǝ̄q̇wV
Meaning: crane
Notes: An onomatopoeic reduplicated root; despite some natural irregularities, its reconstruction for PNC seems reliable enough. Occasional Inlaut nasalisation (in PTs, PD) may have been caused by old nasal suffixes (cf. some Andian forms).
Several languages may have preserved the root in a non-reduplicated shape: cf. And. q̇:urru, Kar. q̇:uru-n, Rach. q̇:uru-nṭa 'crane' ( = God. q̇:ʷaranṭa 'a small jug'); Arch. q̇ʷer-ṭi, Tab. q̇ar-ni, Lezg. Nüt. q:ar-ni (with an irregular q:-); Abkh. a-ṗq̇a. These forms, although few, seem to indicate a PNC form *q̇_wVrV, which may have served as a basis for the more widely spread reduplication *q̇_ǝrǝ̄q̇wV.
