Proto-West-Caucasian: *ǯa
Meaning: span
Abkhaz: á-ʒa
Abaza: ʒa
Adyghe: bžiz
Kabardian: bźiz
Ubykh: ʒa
Comments: PAT *ʒ́a (cf. also Bzyb. á-ʒ́a). The AK compound *bžǝ-jǝzǝ is treated by Shagirov (1,90) as *bžǝ '*hand' (cf. also PAK *ʡa-bžǝ́-bǝ 'handful', Ad. ʡa-bžǝ-m 'fist') + *jǝ́zǝ 'full'. We consider, however, the direct comparison of PAK *jǝ-zǝ (jǝ- is a usual pronominal prefix) with PAT *ʒ́a and Ub. ʒa 'span' more justified semantically, and quite regular phonetically - thus, the coincidence with *jǝ́zǝ 'full' is certainly secondary.
See Shagirov 1, 90; Klimov 1967, 306; Balkarov 1967, 15, 24.
