Proto-Basque: *čar̄
Meaning: ́1 bad 2 evil, wicked 3 shoddy, of poor quality 4 naughty 5 delicate, weak 6 small 7 bad-tempered
Bizkaian: txar 1, 3, 5
Gipuzkoan: txar 1, 3, 5
High Navarrese: txar 1, 3
Low Navarrese: txar 1, 3, 5, 6, tzar 1, 2
Lapurdian: txar 4, 5, 6, tzar 1, 2
Baztanese: txar 6, 7, tzar 2
Zuberoan: txar 1, 3, 6, tzar 1, 2
Roncalese: txar 6
Comments: The forms with initial *c- (tz-) are supposed to be augmentative. The conventional derivation from *sahar̄ ‘old’ (Azkue, Michelena) is implausible, for phonetic and semantic reasons. Phonetic: The expressive variant of Bsq *s (written z) is /š/ (written x), not /č/ (written tx), in the LAB and BNV dialects (Michelena 1961: 190-91), but Azkue regarded txar /čar̄/ ‘bad’ < *sahar̄ ‘old’ as the only exception. Semantic: the typology of the change ‘old’ > ‘bad’, also ‘wicked’ and ‘small’, is not explained. On the other hand, NC cognates proposed here, like Agul (Burshag) č̣ire-r 'bad, dirty', Kryz č̣ir 'wild', Rutul č̣irɨ-dɨ 'lame' are phonetically and semantically straightforward.
