On the Origin of the Suffix -š°a of the Illusive Mood in Abkhazian

Abstract

In the Abkhazian language the illusive mood is produced by adding the suffix -š°a to the forms of different screeves, e.g. ი-ზ-ბო - შ ა ""as if I see"", დ-ცა-ზ -შ ა ""as if he left"", ს - ყოუ - შ ა ""as if I am"". We think that the suffix -š°a was derived from the Abkhazian lexeme ა- შ ა ""song"". The syntagm აშ ა არა ""saying a song"" and accordingly, the finite form აშ ა ( ) ე ტ ""He is saying a song"" are established in Abkhazian. Presumably, the verb part of this syntagm was lost in order to produce the illusive mood, and we got the affix -š°a from the nominal part. In the paper, there is a parallel with the Georgian particle თითქო /თითქოს ""as if"", which is attached to the forms of different screeves and expresses illusiveness. We think that the Abkhazian -š°a was derived from the syntagm აშ ა ( ) ე ტ “saying a song”, like the Georgian particle თითქოს “as if”, which was derived from the verb form with the particle თუ “if”, თუ ითქვას “if it is said”, but in this case, the verb is lost. "