Verbs of hiding and their combinability with locative affixes in Adyghe

Abstract

This paper investigates the semantics of hiding in Adyghe from a typological perspective. There are four verb stems: ʁebəλə- ‘to hide’, wəχʷəme- ‘to protect, to cover up’, wəŝefə- ‘to conceal’, and xeḳʷ ečʼ̣ e- ‘to mix, to blend in’. The central verb of the field, ʁebəλə- ‘to hide’, describes situations where the object is put somewhere to be out of sight (e.g. ‘to hide money into the safe’). It combines with the same locative affixes as standard verbs of motion do. In current usage, the verb wəχʷəme- stands for ‘to protect’, whereas the locative prefix čẹ - ‘under’ changes its meaning to ‘to cover up, to hide’ (e.g. ‘to get the picture covered in dust’). The verb wəŝefə- ‘to conceal’ denotes a specifi c, “passive” mode of hiding, the primary goal of which is to keep the object secret (e.g. ‘to conceal the income from the taxation authorities’). And the verb xeḳ ʷečʼ̣ e- ‘to mix, to blend in’ expresses the idea of hiding something amongst multiple entities (e.g. ‘to disappear into the crowd’). As is shown, the combinability of these four verbs with certain affixes, including locatives, is highly determined by their lexical meaning. The research serves to clarify the semantics of several verb stems and locative affixes in Adyghe and is considered to contribute to the general typology of hiding.