Proto-Lezghian: *ʔic̣:ɨ- (/*mic̣:ɨ-)
Meaning: sweet
Lezghian: werc̣i
Tabasaran: ic:i
Agul: it:e-f
Rutul: id-dɨ
Tsakhur: ut:u-n
Archi: ic̣
Udi: muč:Ia
Comment: Cf. also Lezg. Khl. werc:i, Rut. Ikhr. it:ɨ-d, Tsakh. Tsakh. ütu-n, Arch. -c̣:- in forms like ic̣:ēnu-t 'everything sweet'. The Ud. form with m- is probably an archaism (cf. the external evidence); other languages have modified the stem on analogy with *ʔimc̣: 'honey' - which itself is an old derivate from the adjectival stem. The two stems have actively contaminated also in Lezgian - where werc̣i 'sweet' obtained the Anlaut on analogy with wirt 'honey', while the noun wirt got its -r- from the adjectival stem (regularly we would expect in Lezg.: *irc:i (or erc:i) 'sweet' (with a typical adjectival -r- < *ʔic̣:V-rV-) and *wit 'honey'.
The word for 'honey' (PL *ʔimc̣:) has following reflexes: Lezg. wirt (wirṭe-di-), Khl. ürt (ürt:e-di-); Tab. jič:̌ (jič:̌u-), Ag. it:ʷ (it:ʷa-), Bursh. jit:ʷ (jit:ʷa- ), Rut. it (itɨ- with secondary analogy instead of *it:ɨ-); Tsakh. ut (ut:e-), Gelm. itʷ (it:u-); Kryz. jit; Bud. jit; Ud. uč:I.
See Бокаpев 1961, 71; Лексика 1971, 205; Гигинейшвили 1977, 72, 106.
