пчъын

Adyghe

Alternative forms

• пчын (pčən) — dialectal
• пчъэн (pĉɛn) (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)

1. to count

   Кӏалэм епчъы. ― Kʼalɛm jepĉə. ― The boy is counting.

   Сэ Адыгэбзэкӏэ сэпчъы. ― Sɛ Adəɣɛbzɛkʼɛ sɛpĉə. ― I am counting in Circassian.

   Кӏалэм бэнанэхэр епчъых. ― Kʼalɛm bɛnanɛxɛr jepĉəx. ― The boy is counting the bananas.

   Хьэпщ бэнанэу тиӏэ пчъы. ― Ḥɛpś bɛnanɛwu tiʼɛ pĉə. ― Count how many bananas we have.

   Кӏэлэцыкӏум шъэ нэс къипчъышъут. ― Kʼɛlɛcəkʷʼum ŝɛ nɛs qipĉəšʷut. ― The little boy can count to a hundred.

2. to calculate
3. to enumerate, to list (to specify each member of a sequence individually in incrementing order)

Synonyms

• (to count): лъытэн (lˢətɛn)

See also

• пчъагъэ (pĉağɛ, “number”)

References

• Nikolaev, Sergei L., Starostin, Sergei A. (1994) A North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary‎^[1], Moscow: Asterisk Publishers
• Шагиров, А. К. (1977) К. В. Ломтатидзе, editor, Этимологический словарь адыгских (черкесских) языков [Etymological Dictionary of Adyghean (Circassian) Languages]‎^[2] (in Russian), volume I, Moscow: Nauka, page 87