Proto-North Caucasian: *cārg_wV
Meaning: weasel, marten
Notes: The Nakh form belongs here rather probably, but has some irregularities: initial š- (*c- or *č- would be rather expected) and the cluster -ṭq̇- (the latter can represent old suffixation, as in some other cases: *šVrṭq̇V < *šVrq̇-TV). Forms of other languages correlate with each other very well, and the root is well reconstructable for PNC.
The Av.-And. and WC forms were compared by Klimov (1968, 229), who also adduced the Kartvelian material: Georg. ciq̇wi 'squirrel' (which must be a loan from some EC source). The Georgian word was, in its turn, borrowed in Bezht. (Khosh.) ciq̇i, (Tlad.) č̣eq̇i 'squirrel'.
