Chakobsa
Chakobsa is a Northwest Caucasian language, possibly in the Circassian subgroup. According to linguist John Colarusso, Chakobsa is also known as shikwoshir or the 'hunting language' and was originally a secret language used only by the princes and nobles, and is still used by their descendants. An informant of Colarusso has asserted that Chakobsa is based on the Circassian languages, encrypted by reordering words and changing phonemes, rather like Pig Latin but more complex. This assertion is as yet unconfirmed.
The etymology of Chakobsa comes from the Circassian languages and is formed by the combination of two words: hunter and language. Circassians have used other secret languages or jargons besides Chakobsa. The main purpose of these languages was to hide information from commoners or enemies. Chakobsa was forbidden to commoners, and only the prince-noble class could learn and speak it.
The 18th century adventurer Jacob Reineggs renders the name of the language as Sikowschir, calling it a "court-language", and records the following 18 word glossary: Paphle 'eye', Brugg 'head', Baetāŏ 'ear', Wũp 'rifle', Kaepe 'horse', Ptschakoaentsche 'camel', Ptschakokaff 'cow', Tkemeschae 'goat', Fogabbe 'sheep', Naeghune 'fire', Scheghs 'water', Uppe 'woman', Aelewsae 'child', Paschae 'money', Naekuschae 'bread', Schuwghae 'raincoat', Schufae 'fur' and Tewrettgllo 'to steal'.
According to the German orientalist and linguist Julius Klaproth, who traveled in the Caucasus and Georgia between 1807 and 1808, the Circassians use secret languages on their raids, the two most common of which are called Schakobsché and Farschipsé. Of the first, which he describes as having no relation to the Circassian languages, he could not obtain any samples besides the ones given by Reineggs. The second, he says, is created by inserting ri or fé between each syllable, but from the nine examples he gives it is clear that it is more complicated than that, e.g. Circassian schah 'head' and tdl'e 'foot' which in "Farschipsé" become irisch'chari and tl'arukqari.
In his book Twelve Secrets of the Caucasus, first published in German in 1930, Lev Nussimbaum, writing under his pen name Essad Bey, also mentions a secret language called Chakobsa spoken by the inhabitants of the citadels, palaces and robbers' strongholds. He gives the following five words, stating that they were the only ones known to science: shapaka 'horse', amafa 'blood', ami 'water', asaz 'gun', and ashopshka 'coward'.
In her book The Sabres of Paradise, Lesley Blanch also makes mention of the "mysterious tongue" and "hunting language" Chakobsa.