Proto-West-Caucasian: *Ła
Meaning: 1 smoke 2 god, spirit 3 to suffocate
Abkhaz: á-l-ʕʷa 1
Abaza: lʕʷa 1
Adyghe: tħa 2
Kabardian: tħa 2
Ubykh: La-L- 3
Comments: PAT *lǝ-ʕʷa (a compound with -ʕʷa < *ʁʷV 'smoke' q.v.); PAK *tħa; Ub. sǝ-LaLǝ́-n. The Ub. verb is an exact match for PAK *tħa-La- 'to suffocate' (Ad. tħāLa-, Kab. tħaLa-), see Bouda 1960, 200, Shagirov 2, 82. This is an additional factor in favour of Kuipers' hypothesis that PAK *tħa originally had meant 'life, breath'. Since PAK *tħa corresponds well to Ub. La (going back to PWC *Ła), all other theories about the origin of PAK *tħa (comparison with Greek theós, fantastic comparisons with *ħa 'dog', *t:ǝʁa 'sun' etc. - see the full list in Shagirov 2,79-80) should be discarded.
