-NIIʼ
Navajo
Etymology
From Proto-Athabaskan *ni̓gʸ, from pre-Proto-Athabaskan *niʼg, a root with many disparate meanings, perhaps resulting in the merger of originally distinct roots. Compare Tlingit néekw (“sickness, pain”)
A first meaning involves action with the hand (squeeze, touch). Another meaning relates to the passing of an invisible or hazy entity, as an epidemic, a cold wave, a fad, a swarm, and also relates to pain, ache. A last meaning relates to mental actions as to know, to be aware, to remember.
-NIIʼ shares many stems with the roots -NÍÍʼ, -NIID, -NÍÍD, -NIʼ, -NÍ, -NIH, -NIIH ~ -LĮH and -NEʼ, each of these being themselves a conflation of several originally distinct roots with at times overlapping meanings, which makes their actual identification often speculative.
Maybe as a consequence, the themes in this root often do not behave as neatly as with other roots (classifiers, aspect, conjugations may follow irregular alternations).
Root
-NIIʼ
| Theme | Category | Bases | Transitive bases (O + ł) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ∅ | successive |
S squeezes O, mixes O
|
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| a + ł | motion? |
S heads O off, set O free
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| di + l | motion |
S touches, reaches
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| hi + ∅ | ? |
S is traded |
S trades O
|
| Theme | Category | Bases | Transitive bases (O + ł) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| di + ∅ | ? |
S becomes painful
|
S makes O painful
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| di + ∅ | adjectival |
S hurts
|
S makes O hurt
|
3. a wave passes or spreads (epidemic, a heat wave, a crowd, a swarm, a fad)
| Theme | Category | Bases | Transitive bases (O + ł) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ł | motion |
S passes
|
| Theme | Category | Bases | Transitive bases (O + ł) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ∅ | ? |
S knows |
S makes O know
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| ná + l | ? |
S remembers |
S reminds O
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| ∅ | ? |
S hears, learns |
Stem set
| Aspect | Imperfective | Perfective | Future | Iterative | Optative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Momentaneous | -nííh | -niiʼ | -nih | -nih | -nííh |
| CONT / DUR | -niih | -niiʼ | -nih | -nih | -niih |
| REP / SER | -nih | -niiʼ | -nih | -nih | -nih |
| Semelfactive | -nih | -nih | -nih | -nih | -nih |
| Neuter | -niih | -niiʼ | — | — | — |
See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.
Synonyms
to act with body:
to hurt:
crowd or herd moves:
to know: