Reconstruction:Proto-Athabaskan/-weˑdžʷ

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

Etymology

From Proto-Na-Dene *ʔwiːgw, via Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak *weːgw. Therefore, cognate with the root Tlingit ook (“to boil in water”).^[1]

Kari compares this root to the noun *weˑš(ʷ),^[2] in which case it may be Proto-Yeniseian *ejg (“iron”).^[3]. The original Proto-Athabaskan root may have meant something like 'portable stone,' connected to this root because rotating hot stones was a means of boiling water.^[4]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /weːt͡ʃʷ/

Root

*-weˑdžʷ

to become cooked by boiling

Alternative reconstructions

*weːdzhr (Leer 2010)
*beˑjʳ (Kari 2024)

Descendants

Northern Athabaskan:
- Ahtna: laets
- Dogrib: ebe (“it is boiling”)
- Koyukon: lebaats
- Lower Tanana: batr
Southern Athabaskan:
- Navajo: -BÉÉZH

References

^ * Jeff Leer (2010), “The palatal series in Athabascan-Eyak-Tlingit, with an overview of the basic sound correspondences”, in Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska: The Dene-Yeniseian, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, page 171
^ Kari, James et al. (2024), Kari, James, editor, Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, page 70
^ Fortescue, Michael; Vajda, Edward (2022), “128.) ~*wesg ~ *ejg”, in Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America (Brill's Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas; 17)‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 388
^ Kari, James et al. (2024), Kari, James, editor, Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, page 70

[1] * Jeff Leer (2010), “The palatal series in Athabascan-Eyak-Tlingit, with an overview of the basic sound correspondences”, in Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska: The Dene-Yeniseian, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, page 171

[2] Kari, James et al. (2024), Kari, James, editor, Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, page 70

[3] Fortescue, Michael; Vajda, Edward (2022), “128.) ~*wesg ~ *ejg”, in Mid-Holocene Language Connections between Asia and North America (Brill's Studies in the Indigenous Languages of the Americas; 17)‎^[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 388

[4] Kari, James et al. (2024), Kari, James, editor, Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, page 70

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]