-TSAʼ
Navajo
Etymology
From Proto-Athabaskan *tsαɢ (“to act with teeth by biting”).
In Navajo this root often occurs with the emphatic infix -x-.
It is related to the noun atsá (“eagle”).
Root
-TSAʼ
- to bite down, to grasp (with teeth or beak), to clench
Theme | Category | Bases | Transitive bases (O + ł) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
O + ł | motion | S carries O clamped in teeth or beak
| |||||
O + Ø | successive | S grasps O with teeth or beak
| |||||
yíní + Ø | stative | S has O clamped in teeth or beak
| |||||
di + Ø | ? | S releases P from teeth
|
Stem set
Aspect | IMP | PERF | FUT | ITER | OPT |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MOM | -tsééh | -tsaʼ | -tsah | -tsah | -tsééh |
CONT | -tsaʼ | -tsaʼ | -tsah | -tsah | -tsaʼ |
SEM | -tsah | -tsah | -tsah | -tsah | -tsah |
NEUT | - | -tsaʼ | - | - | - |
See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.
Derived terms
Navajo terms belonging to the root -TSAʼ (grasp with teeth)