Proto-North Caucasian: *=algwĂn
Meaning: to speak
Notes: Cf. also Hurr. kul- 'to say, to pronounce solemnly', see Diakonoff-Starostin 1986, 54. The EC-WC comparison seems satisfactory both semantically and phonetically (although the reason for loss of labialisation in PWC is not quite clear: perhaps it is the other way round, and we should reconstruct *=agĂl with secondary labialisation in PEC - e.g., under the influence of the 1st class marker *u-). Shagirov (1,161) is of course right in refuting Balkarov's comparison of the Adygh form with Akhv. ž- (žab-) 'to read' (Balkarov 1964, 100).
