Reconstruction:Proto-Athabaskan/tʼe

Possibly from a pre-Proto-Athabaskan *tʼanʸ. The irregular imperfective stem *tʼe̓s/tʼeˑth is derived from a *-s/-th suffix meaning 'fire.'

• *t'eˑ(-th) (Kari 2024)

*tʼe

1. to roast, cook over a fire

• Northern Athabaskan:
  • Ahtna: tʼaes
  • Lower Tanana: t'ath
  • Tanacross: yeht'éeth (s/he is frying it)
• Pacific Coast Athabaskan:
  • Hupa: k’iłt’e’ts’ (“to roast, parch seeds”)
• Southern Athabaskan:
  • Navajo: -TʼÉ

• Young, Robert; Morgan, William; Midgette, Sally (1992), Analytical lexicon of Navajo, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, →ISBN, page 535
• Kari, James et al. (2024), Kari, James, editor, Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, pages 373-374

From pre-Proto-Athabaskan *tʼew. Cognate with Eyak -t’e (“to be thus”).

• *t'aˑʷ (Kari 2024)

*tʼe

1. to be thus
2. (with the *nə-thematic prefix) to be a certain number

• Northern Athabaskan:
  • Ahtna: tʼae
  • Lower Tanana: t'a
  • Tanacross: nt'eh
• Pacific Coast Athabaskan:
  • Hupa: -tʼe (e.g. ’a:wht’e (“I am”))
  • Wailaki: nt’eeŋ (“'it is'”)
• Southern Athabaskan:
  • Navajo: -TʼEʼ

• Young, Robert; Morgan, William; Midgette, Sally (1992), Analytical lexicon of Navajo, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, →ISBN, page 536
• Kari, James et al. (2024), Kari, James, editor, Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, page 370