Proto-West-Caucasian: *xV ( ~ ƛ-)
Meaning: to be, become
Abkhaz: -χa-
Abaza: -χa-
Ubykh: š́ǝ-
Comments: PAT *-xa- (Bzyb. -xa-), used in compound verbs (cf. Abkh. a-pśa-rá 'to have a price' - a-pśa-xa-rá 'to become a price'; Abaz. bargʷǝ 'difficult' - bargʷ-χa-ra 'to become difficult' etc.; in Abaz. there occurs also a variant -χ(ǝ)-, cf. bá-χ-ra 'to dry, become dry' etc.). Ub. sǝ-š́ǝ́-n.
Shagirov (1,280;2,108) compares (with some doubt) Ub. š́ǝ- with PAK *śǝ- (apparently used in some compounds with the meaning 'to become'), but concedes himself that phonetically such a comparison is impossible. Despite Dumézil 1938, 74 and Shagirov 2, 113, PAT *-xa- can not be related to PAK *χʷǝ- 'to become' (for phonetic reasons).
