04 April 2013

Basque begi 'eye' (updated)





Basque begi 'eye' is cognate to Sino-Tibetan *mjVk 'eye' and Burushaski *-moq- 'face, cheek', with regular denasalization of initial *m-. This lexeme also appears as the second member of Nakh-Daghestanian *wimq’V 'witness; true' (NCED 2134), presumably a fossilized compound

By contrast, the Caucasian word for 'eye', *ʡwĭlʡi (NCED 34)1 reflected in IE *wel- 'to see' > Latin vultus 'face'.
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1 Despite this, Starostin constructs from it a "Sino-Caucasian" etymology to which Bengtson links the Basque word.

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