PROTO: *swĕrho ( ~ -ɦ-)
MEANING: old; year
COMMENT: The reflexes reveal a variation between *swĕrho and a metathesized form, *r(h)ĕswo (PD, PL); the latter variant could also be promoted by the use of *swĕrho in the adjectival function (with the class prefix *r-: *r-eswĕrho-). Inspite of this metathesis, the etymology seems quite reliable, both semantically and phonetically.
It is interesting to note that HU languages seem to reflect both *swĕrho 'year' ( > Hurr. šawalǝ, Urart. šālǝ id.) and the derivate *t-eswĕ(rho)- ( > PN *t-iši-), reflected in Hurr. tež-u/oɣǝ, tes:-oχ:ǝ 'elder, overseer', Urart. teš- 'to ripen' (see Diakonoff-Starostin 1986, 25, 30).
