-KʼǪSH

Navajo

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *qʼutšʼ (“to be sour, rancid”).

In Northern Athabaskan languages, the stem Proto-Athabaskan *qʼəž, with the same meaning, is derived from Proto-Athabaskan *qʼəš (“alder”), whence Navajo kʼish (“alder”).

Root

-KʼǪSH

1. to be sour, be rancid, be bitter, be salty

Theme	Category	Bases	Transitive bases (O + ł)
di	?	S turns sour, salty, bitter dikʼǫsh nahodikʼǫǫsh
di	adjectival	S is sour, salty, bitter díkʼǫ́ǫ́zh (NEUT)

Stem set

Aspect	IMP	PERF	FUT	ITER	OPT
MOM	-kʼǫsh	-kʼǫsh	-kʼǫsh	-kʼǫsh	-kʼǫsh
CONT	-kʼǫǫsh	-kʼǫ́ǫ́zh	-kʼǫsh	-kʼǫsh	-kʼǫǫsh
NEUT	-	-kʼǫ́ǫ́zh	-	-	-

See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.

Synonyms

to be sour, fermented:

• -ZÍÍʼ

to be spoiled:

• -CHXǪʼ
• -DZID
• -TÉÉL

Derived terms

Navajo terms belonging to the root -KʼǪSH (sour)