-DÍÍN
Navajo
Etymology
From Proto-Athabaskan *denʸ (“light shines”). Always occurs with di- thematic "fire" in associated verb bases.
The root -díín is irregular, since *-dį́ would be expected. -díín is invariable in shape (i.e., there are no other forms for different aspects or tenses), although a distinction between imperfective and perfective could be made. According to Young (1992), bases containing prefix yíní- (“directed at”) have neuter imperfective stems, while the rest have neuter perfective.
Root
-DÍÍN
| Theme | Category | Bases | Transitive bases (O + ł) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| di | operative | light shines (on P)
|
S casts light (on P)
|
Stem set
| Aspect | IMP | PERF | FUT | ITER | OPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEUT | — | -díín | — | — | — |
See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.
Derived terms
Navajo terms belonging to the root -DÍÍN (light)