Proto-Basque: *a=bele
Meaning: 1 large (domestic) animal, cattle 2 bovine animal 3 equine animal
Araban: abere 1
Bizkaian: abere 1
Gipuzkoan: abere 3
High Navarrese: abere, abre 2
Low Navarrese: abere 1
Salazarese: abre 1
Lapurdian: abere 1, (arc) abre 1
Baztanese: abere 1
Aezkoan: abere 1
Zuberoan: abére, abée 1
Roncalese: abre 1
Comments: Cf. PNC*bü̆ɫV 'horned animal'. The variant abel- appears in compounds such as abel-buru 'head of cattle'. Michelena (1961) derives this word from Lat. habere, though the semantic derivation is tortuous ('to have' > 'possession' > 'animal'), and internal reconstruction brings us to *a(=)bele, phonetically and semantically a straightforward match with PSC *bVɫV.
