Talk:tééh łį́į́ʼ

Etymology

Does it literally mean "valley horse"? If so, why? 71.66.97.228 06:08, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Besides valley, tééh is related to tó and means deep water, or just water. I suppose it’s from seeing herds of zebras swimming across raging rivers. Like tééh hóyáanii, porpoises. —Stephen 06:29, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! Gee, I just added an entry for tééh with the definition "valley," based on the Neundorf dictionary, which has that spelling without final apostrophe/glottal stop. Are there a lot of typographical errors in that volume? I think I've noticed one other one so far after finding this book today. If so, I hope you will be able to notice any of these. 71.66.97.228 06:32, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

There is lots of disagreement and confusion about some sounds, especially the glottal stop, the i (which often sounds like eh), vowel length, and tone. I’m not surprised that some people spell valley without a glottal stop. We have similar problems in English, where people don’t know whether two words should be joined together, hyphenated, or spaced apart...or whether an ending is -ance or -ence, or whether a consonant should be doubled in some cases, or if a word has -able or -ible, or any of many other confusing questions. It’s what makes it so difficult for English-speakers to use a dictionary, especially an online one, and why it is difficult for a Navajo to find a word in an online Navajo dictionary. Not many languages are so clear and predictable as Spanish, Korean or Russian. —Stephen 06:45, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks much; I always add "attention" tags so that those more skilled than I in various languages I add entries for can double check before removing the tag. I hope you can do that for the Navajo entries (and tééh in particular). 71.66.97.228 06:47, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Both valley and deep water are spelled the same, tééh. After thinking about it, I suspect that the reason tééh is used for zebras and hyenas is that it refers to the water of the Atlantic Ocean that separates us from Africa. Still not certain. —Stephen 16:00, 21 January 2010 (UTC)