Linguistic Notes

11. Coyote and the Money Tree

(11.1)

     1. Mai '7]tin ho[gho[n1'a 'Coyote was walkinging along a road, it is said'. mai 'coyote'; '7]tin 'road'; ho[gho[, 3rd person prog. of -l-ghee 'to move' [act, intr.]. Note that the noun '7]tin has no postposition indicating its relationship to the verb. This is unusual.

     2. dits8'00'17 'a tree that was standing'. dits8 'tree' plus '00'1, 3rd person indef. of -'1, rigid object extends [upward]' [hi- perf. neut. intr.], and the relative -7.

(11.2)

     1. b44so 'money, dollars' > Spanish peso. We know the reference here to be to several pieces of money because the verb that follows is used only to refer to several discrete objects.

     2. yaadahyeesndi[n1'a 'he put them upon it, it is said'. 3rd person perf. with 3rd person obj. of 0aa-dah-hi-...[si- perf.]-nd77[ 'to put several object on to something' [act. tr.; aa- 'to'; dah- 'on'; hi- ?].

(11.3)

     1. h44[ yi['inayo[n1'a 'they came driving a pack [train], it is said'. h44[ 'pack, burden'. 'inayo[ is the 3rd person prog. with indef, obj. of the verb theme ni-...y0 'to drive, herd [animals]' [act. tr.]. The prefix ni- is thematic but only in the progressive mode does it occur with no other derivational prefixes.

     The text form means literally: 'they were driving (animals)
with burdens, it is said'.

     2. h44[ baabi['in4]yoon1'a 'they drove the pack [train] to him, it is said'. baa- 'to him'; bi[- 'with them'; 'i- indefinite obj.; n4]- > ni- thematic plus the ni- perfective, 3rd person; -yoo perfective stem. See 1, above.

     3. d1'kod4sh9 [appears as d1'kodesh9 in the text -- MEC] 'in this lonely place'. 'lonely, wild'. Cf. linguistic note to Chiricahua text 6.8, 4.

(11.4)

     1. dooda means literally 'no, not, none'; see passage 6 of the text.

     2. baas7d1 'I sit guarding it'. baa- 'to it' plus 1st person of -d1 'one sits' [si- perf. neut. intr.].

     3. 'baan1nt'9 'it grows on it'. baa- 'from it' plus 3rd person iter. of ni-...[si- perf.]-t3 'to grow' [act. intr.].

     4. shi[nzh= 'it is valuable to me'. shi[- 'to me, with me' plus 3rd person of ni-...-zh= 'to be good, beautiful, of value' [imp. neut. intr.].

(11.5)

     naanaahii[ndii 'we will buy it from you'. naa- 'from you' plus 1st person dual of naa-hi- |...[si- perf.]-[-ndii 'to buy' [act. tr.]. naahi- ? but cf. naa-|...[si- perf.]-ndii 'to give away, to distribute here and there' [act. tr.]. The verb 'to buy' is probably the causative with an extra prefix hi- of 'to give away'.

(11.6)

      d3'ay1[37 '7l9 'it is worth a great deal'. d3'ay1 'very much'; [37 'much'. '7l9, 3rd person of 'i- ni-...-l9; 'to be worth, to be valued at' [imp. newt. intr.]. 'i- ?; ni- adj.

(11.7)

      1d77d77 [97 d1'[k'eh daadahond44[go 'both these horses with their burdens'. 1d77d77 'these'; [97 'horses'; d1'[k'eh 'both' [see note1.l, 4]. daadahond44[, 3rd person distrib. prog. of dah-|...[si- perf.]-nd4 'to move carrying a load' [act. intr.], dah- 'on'; theme alone 'to move'. This is an idiomatic way of describing fully saddled and bridled horses.

     2. h44[7 bi[noodzo[7 'the pack animals that we are driving'. h44[7 'packs'; bi[noodzo[, 1st person dual prog. of the verb analyzed in note 11.3, 1, and -7 relative. The -d of the lst person dual combines with the initial stem consonant to form dz-. This is an irregular resultant sound, however [see Grammatical Sketch, part 12], and indicates that this stem initial is historically z- rather than y-.

     3. nannd77[go 'we, giving them to you'. 1st person dual of 0aa-ni-...[ni- perf.]-nd77[ 'to give someone several objects' [act. tr.]. nan- > ni- plus aa- plus the 1st person dual pronoun [see Grammatical Sketch, part 12].

     4. nahaad4]'aa 'you will give it to us'. 2nd person imp. of 0aa-di-ni-...[ni- perf.]-'aa 'to give someone a round object' [act. tr.]. Cf. 0aa-ni-...[ni- perf.]-'aa 'to give someone around object' [act. tr.]. The former differs in that it refers to giving under compulsion or to giving in expectation of a return.

     5. ngh1 'shake it'. 2nd person imp, of ...[hi- perf.]-gh1 'to,shake' [act. tr.].

     6. naaniid1 h1l7 'let's see if it will fall'. 3rd person imp, of naa-ni-|...[si- perf.]-d1 'several fall off' [act. intr.]. naa- 'off, down'; ni-| ?; -d1 'several objects move through space'. h1l7, a modal particle denoting uncertainty or doubt.

(11.9)

      beeja'ashn7 Of 'that with which they had been traveling'. bee- 'with it, by means of it'; ja'ash, 3a person prog. of -'aash 'two move'; -n past tense; -7 relative.

(11.10)

     1. si'3'77y47 'that lies at that place yonder'. si'3 'a round object lies' [3rd person si- perf. neut,intr.]; -'77y4 'over yonder' [encl.].

     2. 'i'n00yoogo 'when I have driven them'. 3rd person perf, with indef. obj. of i-ni-...[hi- perf.]-y0 'to drive [animals] off, away' [act. tr.; 'i- 'away'; ni- thematic]. Cf. linguistic note to Chirichua text 11.3, 1,2

     3. n1ha[1 'you pick it up'. 2nd person dual imp. of n1-hi-...[si- perf.]-l1 'to pick up several scattered objects' [act. tr.]. The theme occurs only with these prefixes. The final -h of the 2nd person dual pronoun unvoices the stem initial.

(11.11)

      goch'3'7]deeyoon1'a 'he began to drive them away from them, it is said'. goch'3 'from them' plus 3rd person perf. of 'i-ni-di-...[si- perf.]-y0 'to begin to drive animals away'. 'i- 'away' plus ni- thematic apparently results in ''7]- but perhaps this is misheard for ''i]-. The verb seems to be intr.; cf. notes 11.10, 2 and 11.3, 1, 2.

(11.12)

     1. n1diit'11zhn1'a 'they got up, it is said'. 3rd person perf. of n1-di-|...[ni- perf.]-d-'áash 'two arise, get up' [act. intr.]. n1-di-| 'upward'; -'aash 'two move'. Why has this verb the -d- class?

     2. yigh1go yaanaa'aashn1'a 'they shook it for a long time, it is said'. yigh1 'they shook it' [see note 11.7, 5]. yaa- 'about it' plus 3rd person imp. of naa-|...[si- perf.]-'aash 'two go about, here and there' [act. intr.]. Literally: 'they, shaking it, they went on about it'.

     3. dooy1anoot'88dan1'a 'nothing fell down, it is said'. y1a 'something' plus perf. of naa-|...[hi- perf.]-d-'88 'an unknown object falls down' [pass.; naa- 'down'].

     4. joojib11y4go 'in a pitiable state'. 3a person of joo-ni-...-b11y4 'to be in a pitiable state' [imp. neut. intr.]. joo- is also used with -ndee 'to help, assist', see linguistic note to Chiricahua text 5.6; 2; ni- adj. The latter prefix disappears entirely in the 3rd and 3a persons.

     5. naajiyee'aashn1'a 'they stood about, it is said'. This is the 3a person of a verb found only in the imp. mode. The other persons are: naaheet'ash 'we stand about'; naahaah'aash 'you two stand about'. The stem is apparently -'aash 'two move' [act. intr.] but the prefixes are puzzling.

     6. bike'shdiyeest'11zhn1'a 'they started to go after him, it is said'. bike 'after him' plus 3rd person perf. of di-yi-...[si- perf.]-d-'aash 'two start off' [act. intr.]. Prefixes indefinable; cf. linguistic note to Chiricahua text 3.2, 2.

(11.13)

     1. bigoota 'their camp'.

     2 n1'ee 'at that place'. n1- 'that place' plus -ee 'at, on'.

     3. gotaadaisndiin1'a 'he had distributed them among them, it is said'. 3rd person perf. with 3rd person distrib. obj. of 0-taa-|...[si- perf.]-ndii 'to distribute things among' [act. tr.; -taa 'among'].

(11.14)

     1. god1h7[ghon1'a 'he met them, it is said'. 3rd person perf. of 0-d1-ni-...[ni- perf.]-l-ghee 'to meet, encounter someone' [act. intr.]. -da 'before, in front of'; ni- completive. Literally 'to come before someone'.

     2. doohaa00'9da 'you haven't seen anyone'. haa- 'anyone, someone' plus 2nd person of -'9 'to see' [prog. neut. tr.].

(11.15)

      '1ndeedego 'a while ago'. Possibly '1ndeede is an older form of '1ndee 'it is new, recent' [see linguistic note to Chiricahua text 1.18, 3]. Cf. also '1ndeeda 'then, now' [part.].