Proto-West-Caucasian: *(a)č:ʷV
Meaning: 1 word, speech 2 to say,speak 3 to take oath,swear
Abkhaz: áž̌a 1
Abaza: ažʷa 1
Kabardian: žǝ-ʡa- 2
Ubykh: čǝ-q̇á- 3
Comments: PAT *azʷa (cf. Bzyb. áža); Ub. sǝ-č(ǝ)q̇á-n (used also as a noun: čǝq̇a 'oath'). The PAT root is also used in a compound *cʷa-zʷa- 'to speak' (see under *c:ʷa-). In PAK *č́:- would be expected, but only the Kab. form is known (Kab. ž can go back to PAK *č́:, *č:, *ǯ́). Still, the exact parallelism between Kab. žǝʡa- and Ub. čǝq̇a- (where the second part goes back to *q̇́Ia- 'say' q.v.) makes this etymology quite plausible.
The comparison of Kab. žǝ-ʡa- and Abkh. áž̌a was first proposed by Mészaros (1934, 308), who also compared Ub. maśa 'word' which is impossible for phonetic reasons. See Shagirov 1, 198.
