ܓܰܘܙܬܳܐ gwztʾ gawzṯā, ܓܲܘܙܵܐ gwzʾ gawzā, plur. gawzē 1. a nut, walnut, walnut-tree; 2. ܓܲܘܙܵܐ ܗܹܢܕܘܵܝܵܐ gwzʾ hndwyʾ gawzā hendwāyā nux indica, coconut
Derivative: ܓܲܘܙܢܵܝܵܐ gwznyʾ gawznāyā 1. nut-shaped; 2. of walnut-wood
OIr. *(a)gauźa-; MP gōz [gwc] walnut (CPD 37); the MP word is not a southwestern one (because of -z); NP gawz a nut, walnut; gūz, gōz a walnut (Steingass 1102); Arm. LW guz, goz, ənguz, əngoz (Hübschmann AG 393, no. 4). — Hebr. əgōz nut; Ethiopic gawz, gçwz coconut; JBA ʾmgwzʾ nut (Shaked 1987, 261; see below); Arab. ǧawz nut ● gwztʾ, gwzʾ Cant 6, 11 cf. MS 2, 27, 1; Neh 8, 15; PsC 217, 7; dap 95, 26; PO 8, 362, 4; gwzʾ hndwyʾ Duv B 2, 38, 14; 3; gwznyʾ Ex 37, 19 (Hex); DM 17, 1 ◆ LS 108b; Lagarde GA 25, 57; AS § 825; PS Comp. 63; PS Suppl. 69
The archetypus of all the Iranian forms has been reconstructed as OIr. *(a)gauźa- with the aim of explaining the Iranian corresponding words that show, or presuppose, an initial a-, for instance, Ghilanī åγuz, Munǰī áγuza, Yidgha oγuzo, Pashto oγoz. OIr. *(a)gauźa- is considered to be a nominal derivative from the verbal root OIr. *gauź- "to hide, conceal", from which derive Av. gaoz-, OP gaud-. A more problematic question concerns the presence of an initial nasal in a good number of forms, both in Indo-European and in Semitic and Caucasian languages: see Oss. Iron ængūz, Digor ængozæ; Arm. LW ənguz, əngoz; JBA ʾmgwzʾ nut; Georg. nigoz-i: Abaev (1958-1979, I, 160 f.) holds that the Ossetic forms are better comparable with the Caucasian correspondents rather than with the Iranian ones. Steblin-Kamenskij (1999, 110 f.) puts forward the hypothesis that the forms showing a nasal come from Ir. ham- + *gauźa-, an etymon considered probable by Èdel’man – Klimov 1987, in a paper where all the Middle and New Iranian forms of this Kulturwort, their diffusion in the Semitic and Caucasian languages, as well as various etymological attempts, are illustrated and discussed. See also Laufer 1919, 256; Gharib 1975.