Proto-West-Caucasian: *š́ʷV
Meaning: 1 red fox 2 jackal
Abkhaz: á-š̌a-bga (Bz)
Adyghe: baǯ́a-ś 2
Ubykh: bIaǵá-šʷ 2
Comments: The root is attested only within a compound with PWC *bIaga 'fox' (q.v.). Shagirov (1977, 72) supposed that the Ad. word was borrowed from Ubykh, which is hardly credible (we do not know of other loans in this direction). His reason was that the Ub. word can be analysed as bIaga 'fox' + šʷǝ 'diminutive suffix', but the external evidence (cf. especially Abkh. á-š̌a-bga) shows that this is a folk etymology, and šʷǝ here is an independent root.
