Proto-North Caucasian: *bHăŁ_i (~ -ǝ-)
Meaning: young one, young (of animals)
Notes: The PTs (Bezht.) form has undergone a metathesis (*ƛapV (with assimilation) < *ƛabV < *baƛV). It is much more difficult to explain the PA form with *-ƛ- (or *-ʎ-) instead of the expected *-ƛ̣:-; reasons for deglottalisation are not at all clear.
The root has probable correspondences in HU: Hurr. pōra-(m)mi, Ur. porā "slave" (with a typologically frequent semantic shift and a regular development *-Ł- > -r-), see Diakonoff-Starostin 1986, 16.
