-TSʼEEʼ

Navajo

Etymology 1

Probably from Proto-Athabaskan *tsʼeq’ (“to lick”).

Root

-TSʼEEʼ

1. to eat mushy object (as cornmeal)

Theme	Category	Bases	+ Unspec object
O + ł	operative	S eats O yiʼniiłtsʼééh (MOM) yiłtsʼééh (DUR)	S eats iʼniiłtsʼééh (MOM) ałtsʼééh (DUR)
O + l	operative	S overeats O néidíníltsʼééh (MOM) néineestsʼééh (perf.)	S overeats ńʼdíníltsʼééh (MOM) náʼneestsʼééh (perf.)

Stem set

Aspect	IMP	PERF	FUT	ITER	OPT
MOM	-tsʼééh	-tsʼeeʼ	-tsʼah	-tsʼah	-tsʼééh
MOM	-tsʼééh	-tsʼeeʼ	-tsʼah	-tsʼah	-tsʼééh

See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.

Synonyms

to eat:

• -ʼAAL (hard O)
• -CHOZH (leafy O)
• -DÉÉL (plural O)
• -DLĄ́Ą́ʼ (liquid O)
• -GHAL (meat)
• -KID (chunky O)
• -MAL
• -YĄ́Ą́ʼ

Etymology 2

Probably from Proto-Athabaskan *tsʼe̓ɣ (“to wiggle, to wind, to coil”). Found only in some neuter perfective bases. Probably related to this root, a secondary meaning also occurs in neuter bases describing objects parallel to one another as rails, poles, columns of smoke.

Root

-TSʼEEʼ

  1. to be coiled, spiraled

Theme	Category	Bases	Transitive bases (O + ł)
ná/ni + d	adjectival	S is coiled hanootsʼeeʼ (NEUT) haʼnootsʼeeʼ nástsʼaaʼ náhineetsʼeeʼ

  2. to lie parallel

Theme	Category	Bases	Transitive bases (O + ł)
ni + ∅/d	adjectival	S lie parallel áłtaʼneetsʼeeʼ (NEUT) neetsʼeeʼ náhoneetsʼeeʼ yaniitsʼeeʼ nanootsʼeeʼ

Stem set

Aspect	IMP	PERF	FUT	ITER	OPT
MOM	-	-tsʼeeʼ / tsʼaaʼ	-	-	-

Synonyms

to coil:

• -ZHAʼ

 

 

to lie parallel:

• -JÉÉʼ
• -ZHOOZH

Derived terms

Navajo terms belonging to the root -TSʼEEʼ (eat mushy)

Navajo terms belonging to the root -TSʼEEʼ (coil)

Navajo terms belonging to the root -TSʼEEʼ (lie parallel)