Proto-West-Caucasian: *ʒ́ʷa
Meaning: 1 half, middle 2 back part 3 hearth
Abkhaz: á-bža 1
Abaza: bža 1
Adyghe: ǯ́a-gʷǝ 3
Kabardian: źa-gʷ 3
Ubykh: ǯ́a 2
Comments: PAT *bǝža (b- may be secondary under the influence of *bǝž́a 'between' q.v.). In PAK we have only compounds *ʒ́a-gʷǝ 'hearth' (*gʷǝ 'heart, middle'), *ʒ́a-nǝq:ʷǝ (*nǝq:ʷǝ 'middle') > Ad. ǯ́a-nǝq:ʷ 'place before the hearth'.
See Shagirov 1977, 199 for the comparison of PAK and Ub. He reconstructs for PAK the meaning "back part"; however, it must be secondary, cf. the older meaning 'middle, half' in PAT and Ub. za(n)-ǯ́á 'middle, half' (za- "one"?). The correspondence between PAK *ʒ́ (Ad. ǯ́, Kab. ź), PAT *ž and Ub. ǯ́ points to a rare PWC phoneme *ʒ́ʷ.
