-KĘ́Ę́Z

Navajo

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *qʷetsʼ (“stick-like or heavy object falls”).

Cognate root found in Ahtna naghilkaetsʼ (“(knife, box) fell down”), Chipewyan -kɛ́θ (“long object drops”).

The nasal vowel, found only in Navajo, is unexplained. See also -KÉÉZ where some confusion has arisen.

Root

-KĘ́Ę́Z

1. SSO moves, falls (as a stick, a pencil)

Theme	Category	Bases	Transitive bases (O + ł)
Ø	motion	SSO falls yikęęs (Ø-MOM) iikęęs dikęęs diikęęs haakęęs naakęęs nʼdiikęęs (“breaks loose”) yíkęęs (ni-MOM) chʼékęęs niikęęs yikǫs (PROG) náhookǫs
Ø	successive	SSO bounces nikídíkǫs (REP) nikídiikǫs (SEM)

Stem set

Aspect	IMP	PERF	FUT	ITER	OPT
MOM	-kęęs	-kę́ę́z	-kǫs	-kǫs	-kęęs
REP	-kǫs	-	-	-	-
SEM	-kǫs	-kǫs	-kǫs	-kǫs	-kǫs

See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.

Synonyms

SSO verbs:

• -TĄ́ (handle SSO)
• -TʼEʼ (propel SSO)
• -ʼÁ (SSO extends)

 

 

 

Derived terms

Navajo terms belonging to the root -KĘ́Ę́Z (SSO moves)