Reconstruction:Proto-Nakh/laatta

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

In the work of Nikolaev & Starostin (1994), the reconstruction of the vowel of the second syllable is unfounded. Schrijver (2021) writes that: “Ingush leatta generalized the form with palatal umlaut, which originated in the oblique stem, in the nominative.” But he does not confirm this assumption in any way. This assumption can be supported by the fact that the word, according to Malsagov (1925), refers to the first hard declension of long case endings, in which there is a change in ablaut. However, this change in ablaut disappeared after generalization, but the declination remained the same.

*laatta

1. earth, land

• >? Bats: ლათთ class dd (latt, “garbage”)
• ⇒? Bats: ლაჲთთნო class dd (layttno, “former position, home”)
• Vainakh:
  • Chechen: ла̄тта class dd (laatta)
  • Ingush: лаьтта class dd (lätta)

• Nikolaev, Sergei L., Starostin, Sergei A. (1994) “*lātte”, in A North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary‎, Moscow: Asterisk Publishers
• Schrijver, Peter (2021) “A history of the vowel systems of the Nakh languages (East Caucasian), with special reference to umlaut in Chechen and Ingush”, in Languages of the Caucasus‎, volume 5, →DOI, →ISSN, page 101: “*laːtta”