Reconstruction:Proto-Athabaskan/žəŋʸ

This Proto-Athabaskan entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Athabaskan

Alternative reconstructions

  • *zhənʸ (Young and Morgan 1992)
  • *šəŋʸ (alternate reconstruction from Leer 1996)
  • *zhʳəŋ (Kari 2024)

Etymology

According to Young and Morgan, from earlier *šənʸ.

Has been compared to Proto-Yeniseian *çajVŋʷ (“dark-colored”).

Root

*žəŋʸ

  1. to be black, blackish, dark in color

Stem set

According to Young and Morgan, the transitional perfective stem is *žinʸ; the imperfective stem is *zhį-x̣

Descendants

  • Northern Athabaskan:
    • Ahtna: zen
    • Chipewyan: denelziin (“it is blackish”)
    • Dogrib: dezǫ (“it is black”)
    • Gwich'in: azhrąįį (“it is dark”)
    • Lower Tanana: zren
  • Pacific Coast Athabaskan:
    • Hupa: łiwhin (“it is black”)
  • Southern Athabaskan:

References

  • Young, Robert; Morgan, William; Midgette, Sally (1992), Analytical lexicon of Navajo, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, →ISBN, page 782
  • Leer, Jeff (1996), Comparative Athabaskan Lexicon‎[1], volume sh/zha-sh/zhe, Alaska Native Language Archive, page 19
  • Fortescue, Michael; Vajda, Edward (2022), “69.) ~*çej-Vŋʷ”, in Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America (Brill's Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas; 17)‎[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 358
  • Kari, James et al. (2024), Kari, James, editor, Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, page 504
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