Proto-North Caucasian: *c̣ĭrqā
Meaning: carpet; coverlet
Notes: With the exception of metathesis in PWC (a rather frequent phenomenon in roots with two stops), correspondences are regular and the etymology seems generally reliable. The Lak. form probably was borrowed in Avar: Av. c̣:aχá (not genuinely related because of the irregular c̣:-), which, in its turn, was borrowed by Archi (c̣aχa id.). It is, however, not clear whether we should relate here also the phonetically aberrant Darg. forms: Ak. carka 'floor-cloth'; Ak., Ur. č̣uqan 'floor-mat'.
The word has possible parallels in Iranian: Osset. sarɣ, Afg. sarɣ, Sogd. s'ɣr 'saddle' ( > Arab. sarǯ > Pers. sarǯ), Pam. sirekh, siregh 'woollen blanket, mattress', see Abayev 1979, 34-35.
