Probable Indo-Arian loanwords in the Nakh-Daghestanian languages and the problem of the original localization and the subsequent distribution of these languages
This paper discusses five most reliable Аvarian - Оld Indian lexical correspondences out of those 15 ones which were suggested by A. Pogodin as long ago as 1902. The analysis has shown that one of them - Avar. nus ~ Оld Ind. snuṣā ‘daughter-in-law' - is absolutely inadequate, two others - Avar. c̣c̣uka ‘female pig' ~ Оld Ind. sūkara-, ‘pig', and Avar. c̣c̣оko ‘skin ~ Оld Ind. chаgā- ‘goat' are etymologically doubtful. The more reliable ones are: Avar. ħansa (< *ħamsa ) 'mountain turkey' ~ Оld Ind. haṃsá - ‘wild goose, swan', and Avar. ross ‘husband' ~ Оld Ind. rṣ̣a- in rṣabha ‘bull, male'. The former is supposed to be borrowed from Mitanni Indo-Aryan, and the latter may be borrowed to the Avarian (and Andian) language from the spoken Prakrit of the Northwestern India, that was at that time a part of the Sasanid Empire. The Mitanni State (XVI-XIII centuries BC) is supposed to be the region of the original localization of the Nakh-Daghestanian languages (including Avarian), an it was there they could contact with the Mitanni Indo-Aryans.