Talk:iizhííd

Wrong etyl

The etymology currently doesn't match the rest of the entry. -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 07:11, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Fixed it. I usually copy-and-paste from other Navajo verbs pages, so hopefully this is the only one that's slipped through. Ewweisser (talk) 16:43, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

ʼa- as unspec object prefix?

Any chance that the ʼa- on the front is the unspecified object prefix (presumably applying to the implied object of inhaling, the air)? This would seem to make more sense than a meaning of "away", especially given that this term means inhaling rather than exhaling. -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 05:53, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

I thought exactly the same thing--I thought I must be reading wrong. Young & Morgan definitely say it's the "away" prefix, though, and it can't just be a typo; for the iterative form, they have anáshshił, with the ʼa- before the iterative ná---so it must be in position 1 rather than in direct object position. Bizarre. Ewweisser (talk) 00:28, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Hmm. Okay, what's the word for exhale? Or blow? Do those use the same verb stem by any chance? -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 01:17, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Looks like most of the translations given for blow use the stem -yol. Most of the verbs built from the -zhil base have to do with inhalation, although Analytical Lexicon does translate haazhííł as "to start to breathe, draw the first breath, exhale, let out one's breath". A maybe more common base for inhaling and exhaling is -dzííʼ...it does the same thing, with an "away" ʼa- for "breathe in", and an "up" ha- for "exhale". Ewweisser (talk) 02:29, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

I don't have it in front of me, but either Young's Navajo Verb System or Faltz's Navajo Verb describe ha- as meaning "up", but also "out", which makes sense for exhale. I wonder if the "away" for ʼa- in the Analytical Lexicon might not mean "towards somewhere not visible", instead of (or as well as) "away from the person doing the verb"? -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 03:41, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

It was Young -- he lists ha- as meaning "up" and also "out", and he lists ʼa- as "away" directionally, and "away" as in "towards somewhere out of sight" -- and the "out of sight" meaning could fit semantically for inhale. -- Cheers, Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 20:40, 14 May 2012 (UTC)