PAT *ʒ́a-rV (-rV is originally a collective suffix), cf. also the Abzh. variant a-bgǝ́-ʒǝr, Bzyb. a-bgǝ́-ʒ́ar (the compound means literally "fox's cornel"); PAK *za (Ad. reflects only the compound *za-jǝ́, where -jǝ is the "tree suffix", = Kab. zej 'cornel-tree'). Reason for spirantization ʒ > z in Abaz. is not quite clear; perhaps it is due to Adygh influence, although the word as such can not be regarded as an Adygh loan (despite Lomtatidze 1944,209, Kondzharia 1969,8).
The correspondence PAT *ʒ́ : PAT *z points to PWC *ʒ́ or *ǯ.