-ʼÉÉL

Navajo

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *’etɬʼ ~ *’ʷətɬ’ (“plural subjects float or swim”).

Occurs in a very productive motion theme related to floating or sailing, but also occurs in a couple of unproductive bases related to the action of water (flush, sift, sweat, dissolve), and in a neuter theme (to droop or hang down).

Cognate root found in Ahtna ilʼaetlʼ (“they arrived swimming”), tezʼaetlʼ (“(a dam) washed out”), tełʼaetlʼ (“he hung it up”), with similar extended meanings.

Root

-ʼÉÉL

1. to float

Theme	Category	Bases	Transitive bases (O + ł)
∅	motion	S floats yiʼeeł (∅-MOM) iiʼeeł diʼeeł diiʼeeł haaʼeeł kʼéʼeeł tádiʼeeł yisdáʼeeł yíʼeeł (ni-MOM) chʼéʼeeł niiʼeeł naaʼeeł (CONT) yiʼoł (PROG) ...	S sails, rows O yiłʼeeł (∅-MOM) iiłʼeeł yidiłʼeeł yidiiłʼeeł haiłʼeeł — — yisdéíłʼeeł yíłʼeeł (ni-MOM) chʼííłʼeeł niyíłʼeeł neiłʼeeł (CONT) yoołʼoł (PROG) ...
∅/ł	?	S dissolves ńdíʼeeł moisture soaks bigháłʼeeł haałʼeeł S sweats niiʼeeł	S dissolves O ńdíʼeeł
ni + l	adjectival	S droops nanilʼeeł nanoolʼoł

Stem set

Aspect	IMP	PERF	FUT	ITER	OPT
MOM / CONT	-ʼeeł	-ʼéél	-ʼoł	-ʼoł	-ʼeeł

See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.

Synonyms

action of water:

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

to float:

• -DO (in the air)

Derived terms

Navajo terms belonging to the root -ʼÉÉL (float)