Proto-West-Caucasian: *zʷA
Meaning: to drink
Abkhaz: á-ž̌-ra
Abaza: žʷ-ra
Adyghe: ja-ša-n
Kabardian: ja-fa-n
Ubykh: ʒwa-
Comments: PAT *zʷǝ- (cf. Bz. á-ž-ra); PAK *ja-sʷa- (intr.), *jǝ-sʷǝ- (tr. > Ad. jǝšǝ-n, Kab. jǝfǝ-n); Ub. 1 sg. a-z-ʒʷá-n. The PAK form has an irregular unvoiced stop (*-zʷ- should be expected). This is probably due to the influence of *psǝ 'water' (very frequent in combination with the verb 'to drink'). The original meaning of the root - as it is clearly seen on external evidence - was 'to milk, (to drink milk)'. Derivates from this root mean 'milch cow, cow' in many EC languages. Hence it is natural to relate to this root also PWC *zʷǝ / *mǝ-zʷǝ 'cow' (with *mǝ- as a probable deverbative prefix): PAT *zʷǝ (Abkh. á-ž̌, Bzyb. á-ź̌, Abaz. žʷǝ) 'cow', Ub. mǝzʷ-ʁǝ́ 'heifer'.
