Local Preverbs with Common Ibero-Caucasian Roots in Abkhazian

Abstract

Due to its incorporative nature, the Abkhazian language is characterized with the abundance of local preverbs that attach to a verb or sometimes to a noun and change its meaning, express direction, location, etc. As it is known, local preverbs are morphological elements derived from independent words, which, in some cases, are separated from their original meaning over time and have become modal elements. In such a language area, the unity among the Ibero-Caucasian languages is particularly important, because local or other modal elements are the oldest part of the lexical fund of the language. The paper discusses several local preverbs, which, in our opinion, are of a common IberoCaucasian origin: g°ara related to the state or action by a place, something fenced, cf.: Geo. ragvi, Semoragva, Megr. goragua, ragua, Svan. rägw "on the brink of collapse (building, road)". Zaa related to liquid, water, cf.: Geo. veZa, veZisi, veJa, veJinis xevi. C x ˆn - (C x nˆ-) "on a horse", cf.: Geo. cxeni, Megr.: cxeni, Svan C’j. We would like to draw attention to the fact that the identical c / c equivalence between Georgian and Megrelian, just like Svan, coincides to the c / C sound equivalence in Abkhazian. Despite the fact that Abkhazian has its own lexeme aC ˆ to denote "a horse", in the mentioned local preverbs we can find the equivalence C x ˆn - (C x nˆ-) of the Kartvelian word cxen. ky a/ˆ related to the corner of the house, cf.: Geo. kunyuli, Megr. kuyuli. kˆd “on the flat surface”, cf.: Geo. kedeli, kide, kedaro, Megr. kida “wall, dike, partition wall”, Svan ywed “wall”. mg°a/ˆ "inside", ("in the stomach"), cf.: Geo. gul-gvami, Megr. gvami "abdominal cavity", Svan. gwäm “chest”. pˆra / ˆ “in front of”, cf.: Geo. perdi. pa / ˆ “in front of, face to face“, cf.: Geo. gadapareba, Megr. porua, Svan lipraw. Gra/ˆ ("in the stomach"), “inside”, cf.: Geo. Gru /Gari, Svan Gari "abdominal cavity". nK°ˆ "in space" cf.: Geo. Ken. kˆla / ˆ “in the hole”, “through”, cf.: Geo. ken/ sknel. xa /ˆ “on the top, related to the head”, cf.: Geo. xur / xurva, axuravs. la / ˆ “in, between”, cf.: Geo. lalva / Selala, Megr. ula, Svan li-zel-al... K°a / ˆ "closely attached", cf.: Geo. Kuny / Kunw / Kua. kn / ˆ // kˆn “to hang”, cf.: Geo. sknel / knel. g°ˆd / ˆ "on the chest", "on the flat surface", "above", cf.: Geo. guli, Megr. guri, Svan gwi, gu. va / ˆ "next to", cf.: Geo. gverdi. k° / ˆ "around", cf.: Geo. ce-kv-a. mGa / bGa / ˆ “around the waist”, cf.: Geo. Ca-bGa-uyeba. j° “over (by throwing, beating), cf.: Geo. jvavi, Svavi, jveta, Sveta, Megr. zve “snowslide, like snowslide (grass, weed), Svan ji “on, above”. The paper also presents relevant material of other Ibero-Caucasian languages presented in the scientific literature