Proto-North Caucasian: *mĭhV
Meaning: a k. of foliage tree (alder)
Notes: Reconstructed for the PEC level. The Lak. form hi goes back regularly to *mihi (with a regular reduction of initial *m- + narrow vowel). The meaning "birch" in PTs and Lak is due to the influence of another root, PEC *mħĕrqwĕ 'birch', which itself was not preserved in these languages (on the origin of Lak. dialectal maq 'birch' see under *mħĕrqwĕ).
Although the roots *mħĕrqwĕ and *mĭhV appear to be in complementary distribution, there is no way to unite them phonetically, and they must be treated as separate etyma (the former meaning "birch", the latter, probably, "alder").
