-ʼĄ́

-ʼĄ́

Navajo

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *ʼa (“to handle compact object”), with nasalized perfective *ʼa-nʸ.

One of the most productive root occurring in all Athabaskan languages, in a wide range of themes and specialized meanings.

Cognate root found in Ahtna zʼaan (“it is in position”), yiniʼaan (“he arrived carrying it”), diniʼaan (“he brought the news”), nikuniʼaan (“it is planned”), [Term?] (“sun moves”), with similar extended meanings.

Root

-ʼĄ́

1. to handle SRO

Motion themes:

Theme	O + Ø	ʼa + Ø	O + di + Ø	O + ł + d	ni + d
Ø-MOM Ø a di dii ałná ha hadii na ńdíníi yisdá	S handles SRO   yiʼaah iiʼaah yidiʼaah yidiiʼaah — haiʼaah haidiiʼaah neiʼaah néidíníiʼaah yisdéíʼaah	S moves (the sun) — eʼeʼaah adiʼaah adiiʼaah ałnéʼéʼaah haʼaʼaah — — — —	S handles abstract O (a song); S relaxes O — iidiʼaah yididiʼaah — — haidiʼaah — — — —	S carries O (fire) yiłtʼaah iiłtʼaah yidiłtʼaah yidiiłtʼaah — haiłtʼaah — — — —	S moves head   nitʼaah anitʼaah — — — hanitʼaah — — — —
ni-MOM Ø chʼi ni#	yíʼaah chʼííʼaah niyíʼaah	— chʼéʼéʼaah —	yideeʼaah chʼíideeʼaah neideeʼaah	yíłtʼaah chʼííłtʼaah niyíłtʼaah	— chʼíneetʼaah nineetʼaah
CONT PROG	neiʼá yooʼááł	— ooʼááł	neidiʼaʼ (DIV) —	neiłtʼá yoołtʼááł	nanitʼá nootʼááł
Misc.		eʼełʼaah			dininitʼaah dínítʼaah

Theme	ho + Ø	O + di + d	ádąąh O + d
Ø-MOM Ø di di+hi	S plans, suggests, complains — (yi)hodi'aah ni' hodii'aah	S carries food   — — —	S puts O on self (head, finger) — — —
ni-MOM chʼi ni# ni#dini	ch'íhó'aah nihó'aah —	— — —	— niyítʼaah niidineetʼaah
CONT PROG	(yi)nahaʼá hooʼááł	nʼditʼá yidootʼááł

Other themes:

Theme	Category	Bases	Transitive bases (O + ł)
Ø	positional	SRO is in position siʼą́ (NEUT) ↳ hazʼą́ naazʼą́ níʼą́ déʼą́ hííʼą́	S keeps SRO in position yisʼą́ (NEUT)
Ø		SRO gets in position yiiʼaah (TRANS) ↳ hooʼaah	S sets SRO in position yiyiiłʼaah (TRANS) ↳ hoołʼaah

Stem set

Aspect	IMP	PERF	FUT	ITER	OPT
MOM	-ʼaah	-ʼą́	-ʼááł	-ʼááh	-ʼááł
CONT	-ʼá	-ʼą́	-ʼaał	-ʼaah	-ʼaał
TRANS	-ʼaah	-ʼaʼ	-ʼaał	-ʼaah	-ʼaah
NEUT	-	-ʼą́	-	-	-

See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.

Synonyms

SRO verbs:

• -NEʼ (propel SRO)
• -TSʼID (SRO moves)

to sing:

• -ʼAʼ
• -KʼAAZH (falsetto)
• -TÁÁL

to act with body:

• -CHID (hand)
• -ʼEEZ (foot)
• -NEʼ (head)
• -NIIʼ (hand)
• -TÁÁL (foot)

 

Derived terms

Navajo terms belonging to the root -ʼĄ́ (handle SRO)