пчъын
Adyghe
Alternative forms
- пчын (pčən) – dialectal
- пчъэн (pĉen) (objectless form)
Etymology
From Proto-Circassian *pč:ǝ- (Nikolayev / Starostin) or *bč:ǝ- (Šagirov). Cognate with Kabardian бжын (bžən). Šagirov following Rogava remarks that the initial consonant may be a frozen grammatical class marker and compares the stem with several Northeast Caucasian words. The comparison is accepted by Nikolayev / Starostin who reconstruct Proto-Northwest Caucasian *p-č́:ʷǝ (“to count”) and propose a connection with Proto-Northeast Caucasian [Term?] (“to count; to understand”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [pt͡ʃən]
Verb
пчъын • (pĉən) (transitive)
- to count
- Кӏалэм епчъы. ― Kʼaalem jepĉə. ― The boy is counting.
- Сэ Адыгэбзэкӏэ сэпчъы. ― Se Aadəɣebzekʼe sepĉə. ― I am counting in Circassian.
- Кӏалэм бэнанэхэр епчъых. ― Kʼaalem benaanexer jepĉəx. ― The boy is counting the bananas.
- Хьэпщ бэнанэу тиӏэ пчъы. ― Ḥepś benaanewu tiiʼe pĉə. ― Count how many bananas we have.
- Кӏэлэцыкӏум шъэ нэс къипчъышъут. ― Kʼelecəkʷʼum ŝe nes qiipĉəšʷut. ― The little boy can count to a hundred.
- to calculate
- to enumerate, to list (to specify each member of a sequence individually in incrementing order)
Synonyms
- (to count): лъытэн (lˢəten)
See also
- пчъагъэ (pĉaağe, “number”)
References
- Nikolayev, S. L.; Starostin, S. A. (1994) A North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary, Moscow: Asterisk Publishers
- Шагиров, А. К. (1977), К. В. Ломтатидзе, editor, Этимологический словарь адыгских (черкесских) языков [Etymological Dictionary of Adyghean (Circassian) Languages] (in Russian), volume I, Moscow: Nauka, page 87