Many years ago, to be precise on May 10, 2012 (11:42 PM), I wondered about the meaning of verbalizer za ba and put my speculation in a blog. Today (26.06.2023), I am still wondering about it. The word that triggered me to return to this issue is khu ’phrig(s) za ba. The spelling khu ’khrig za ba, too, is found. See bTsan-lha’s brDa dkrol (s.v. khu ’khrig). It turns out that khu ’khrig za ba and g.yang za ba (“to be reluctant, to have scruple about, to have some inhibition”) are synonymous. According to the brDa dkrol, khu = g.yang. What is g.yang supposed to mean? In this context, it seems to mean “skin,” and specially, “human skin” (as in g.yang gzhi and g.yang shun). To be noted is that g.yang za ba (brDa dkrol) is said to have second meaning “to be dizzy/giddy” (klad yus ’khor ba). I suspect that g.yang za ba in this second sense means “to have fear for heights/depths” (i.e., acrophobia).
Let us now turn to the possible meaning of the za ba as a verbalizer? Does it mean “to eat” or “to itch”? If to use my usual verbal categories, the verb “eat” would be transitive and autonomous, where the verb “itch” would be intransitive and heteronomous. (a) Thus, za ba in all those verbs that seem to be transitive and autonomous can be said to have the meaning “to eat.” Here are some examples: gsug za ba “to take bribe,” lkog rngan za ba “to take bribe,” khe bzang za ba “to take/make (illegal/unethical) profit,” and dbang za ba “to abuse one’s power.” I would say also mna’ za ba “to swear” or “to take an oath” belongs to this group. (b) The verbalizer za ba in the following cases all seem to be intransitive and heteronomous, and there seem to be at least three types. (1) dogs pa za ba “to have doubt,” the tshom za ba “to have doubt,” ’phrig za ba “to have doubt,” khu ’phrig/’khrig za ba “to have doubt,” som nyi za ba “to have doubt,” ag za ba “to have doubt,” gdon mi za ba “to be there no doubt” (only in the negative), and so on. It is noteworthy that all these words have to do with what I may call “cognitive” inkling. (2) There is then a group of verbs expressing some sort of what I call “emotive” irritation such as tshig/’tshig pa za ba “to get angry” and khong khro za ba “to get angry.” I am not sure if rnam rtog za ba “to be superstitious (about something)” would belong to this group. The component za ba in these cognitive and emotive verbs may be said to be have a “subjective” sense. (3) The following verbs with za ba all seem to have something to do with “objective” occurrences/incidents/events: gzugs po za ba “to itch,” chud za ba “to go waste” (not in the sense of “to lay waste”), g.yur (du) za ba “(fruits) come to ripe/mature” (i.e., ’bras bu seems to be the subject of g.yur (du) za ba and not its accusative object and hence not to be understood in the sense of “to bear fruits”), ltogs tshig za ba (“to be starving,” and perhaps not “to starve”), tshos za ba “dyeing [process] to be effective/successful,” and so forth. The verb btsa’ brgyab pa (Tshig mdzod chen mo, s.v. (1) btsa’) having the sense of “to rust, to oxidize, to corrode/erode” seems to occur, though not as a lexeme. I attempted to find btsa’ za ba having the same meaning but I was not thus far successful. But we do come cross btsas zos pa “rusted, corroded,” and hence we should consider the verb btsas za ba or simply btsa’ za ba in the sense of btsa’ brgyab pa.
In sum, transitive and autonomous za ba as in khe bzang za ba may be understood as having the sense of “to eat,” “to partake of,” and the like. Perhaps one can link the objective and subjective senses of intransitive and heteronomous za ba with the English word “eat.” That is, if something objectively happens “to eat into (someone)” or “to gnaw at (someone),” what would that person feel/sense? The person would feel a sense of irritation. In other words, the person would “itch.” Itching has obviously something to do with eating into something or someone. All of these are, however, mere speculations!
Pratisaṃvid 