-GIZH

Navajo

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *ɢəž (“to act with a stick, to be forked”).

Cognate root found in Ahtna delggez (“it is forked”), gges (“skewer”).

Found in Navajo in a number of disparate themes related to cutting, to forked or gapped shape, to seeping/spreading, and to acting with a stick or gestures.

Also found in a base related to flashing, probably a corruption of the root -GĘZH, of similar meaning (see -KĘ́Ę́Z/-KÉÉZ for a similar situation).

Root

-GIZH

1. to cut, to incise; to be forked, to have a gap

Theme	Category	Bases	Transitive bases (O + ł)
O + ł	motion	S cuts O yiłgéésh (Ø-MOM) iiłgéésh yidiłgéésh haiłgéésh haidiiłgéésh niyiiłgéésh (nihi-, “to pieces”) neiłgizh (CONT) ↳ naʼałgizh yoołgish (PROG)
O + Ø	successive	S cuts O yiidigéésh (bidi-, reduction) yiyiigéésh (hi-, seriative) táidigéésh yigizh (CONCL) yiyiigish (SEM) ↳ iigish ↳ ádiigish (+d) ahánígéésh (ahá-, “in half”)
ł	adjectival	S is forked, gapped, has a pass deeshgizh (NEUT) hałgizh ńdeeshgiizh nihodeeshgiizh
Ø		S breaks, gaps out (a dam) digéésh	S breaks O yidiłgéésh

2. to soak, to seep, to spread

Theme

Stem set

Aspect	IMP	PERF	FUT	ITER	OPT
MOM	-géésh	-gizh	-gish	-gish	-géésh
MOM	-gíísh	-gizh	-gish	-gish	-gíísh
CONT	-gizh	-gizh	-gish	-gish	-gizh
REV	-gish	-gizh	-gish	-gish	-gish
SEM	-gish	-gish	-gish	-gish	-gish
NEUT	-gizh	-gizh	-	-	-
NEUT	-	-giizh	-	-	-

See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.

Synonyms

to cut:

-CHʼIIZH
-KʼEEʼ
-TʼĄ́Ą́Z
-TSIH
-ZHÉÉʼ

action of water:

-ʼÉÉL (wash)
-TŁÉÉʼ (dampen)
-TŁʼIIZH (soak)
-TSEED / -TSIZ (sink)
-ZHO (dampen)

Derived terms

Navajo terms belonging to the root -GIZH (cut)

Navajo terms belonging to the root -GIZH (soak)

Navajo terms belonging to the root -GIZH (act with stick)

Navajo terms belonging to the root -GIZH (flash)