Proto-North Caucasian: *ɦĭfV
Meaning: to guard, to graze
Notes: The semantic shift 'graze' > 'feed, eat' is frequent and easily understandable. The initial laryngeal can be reconstructed on basis of Av., Lak. and PTs data; it tends to be replaced by class markers (when the root is functioning as a verb), and in PN the weak syllable with the laryngeal was lost altogether.
In some cases it is hard to distinguish between reflexes of *ɦĭfV 'to guard, graze' and *HŭqwV 'to preserve, take care of'(q.v.) (this confusion is made, e.g., in Abdokov 1983, 88); the latter root,however, is certainly distinct in PL and PWC, and must be reconstructed as such.
