Proto-West-Caucasian: *ć:VʒV
Meaning: 1 weasel 2 marten 3 beaver
Abkhaz: a-pš-ʒá 1
Abaza: ʒǝʒǝ-c 1
Adyghe: cǝza 2
Kabardian: ʒǝʒa 2
Ubykh: ćaca 3
Comments: PAK *c:ǝʒá. In the Abkh. dialects the root underwent significant changes, cf. also Bzyb. a-pš-ʒǝ́ / a-pš́-ʒǝ́ 'weasel'. The PAT form must have been *cǝʒV or *ćǝʒV; with metathesis and partial reduplication it is preserved in Abaz. ʒǝʒǝc. In Abkh. it was used in a compound, most probably with *pǝš́ǝ 'red': *a-pǝš́ǝ-c( ́)ǝʒa (with reduction) > a-pš-ʒá / a-pš́-ʒǝ́.
In Ub. we have cǝza 'marten', which is certainly an Ad. loan; the genuine word, cited by Vogt 1963 from Dumézil 1959, is ćaca 'beaver'.
If we take all the said into account, correspondences between the three branches will be quite regular (we have only to assume an assimilation *ćaʒa > ćaca in Ub.).
The correct comparison of all three branches see in Aбдоков 1973, 50. Shagirov's (1977, 168) attempt to derive the AK form from Turkic (Kirgh. sūsar etc., ultimately from Pers. susmar) is, of course, untenable for phonetic reasons.
