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(1.1) Linguistic Notes

1. 'íłtséshíͅ 'at the beginning'. íłtsé 'the first, the beginning, first' [part.], -shíͅ 'from' [pp.]

2. Bik'ehgo'iindáń 'the Creator'. A compound of bik'ehgo 'being by reason of him', 'iindá 'there is life', and -ń relative enclitic referring to persons [see Grammatical Sketch, §20]. bik'eh 'his spiritual power, in his charge, by reason of him', a noun with third person possessive pronoun; -go subordinating enclitic. 'iin dá 'there is life, life'a verb [apparently imp. neut. and with prefix 'i-] found only in the third person.

3. gólíͅná'a 'he lived, it is said'. gólíͅ, third person of: go-ni-...-líͅ 'to live, to exist' [imp. neut. intr.]. The prefix go- is often found as a derivational prefix but it is difficult to isolate its meaning. Cf. nlíͅ 'he is' and ndénlíͅ' he is a man' [ ndé 'man']. ni- is a prefix found with verbs defining adjectival notions. In the third person, it disappears leaving a high tone on the vowel of the preceding prefix.

-ná'a is the narrative enclitic which is generally suffixed to every principal (i. e., non-subordinated) verb in myths or stories which recount events that the narrator has not personally witnessed. In order to save space and to avoid repetition, I have not translated -ná'a in the translations to the texts.

4. dájík'eh 'all of them' [part.]. Cf. dá-nahí-k'eh all of us, all of you' and dágok'eh 'all of them'. From these can be isolated the proclitic dá- 'just, only', the pronouns ji- 3a subject, nahi- first or second person object, and go- 3a object. The stem appears to be -k'eh and, since it is always preceded by a high tone, an element ni- may be assumed. The inflection, however, is irregular and it is impossible to class this as either verb or noun.

5. bédaagojísiͅ 'they knew about him'. 3a person distributive of : 0é-go-ni-...-ł-ziͅ 'to know about, to possess knowledge of' [imp. neut. intr.]. -é 'about' [pp.]; go- derivational prefix, meaning uncertain; ni- adjectival prefix. ni- disappears in the 3a person leaving a high tone on ji-. The classifier -ł- and the initial stem consonant combine to form s-. The indirect object bi- combines with the postposition -é to form bé-.

6. 'ákoo 'then, and' [part.]

7. Isdzánádleeshé 'White Painted Woman ', the mother of the culture hero [see Ethnological Notes to Chiricahua text 1, note 2]. Apparently a compound of isdzáń 'woman', nádleesh 'she is being painted white again', and -é an archaic relative enclitic.

This word, which is used to refer to the mother of the culture hero and to the adolescent girl at the time of the girls' puberty ceremony [see Ethnological Notes to Chiricahua text 40, note 1], probably owes its etymology to the fact that the girl is painted with white at the time of the ceremony. Except for the the word is cognate to Nav. 'Asdzáͅáͅnádleehé 'Changing Woman' which may be analyzed as 'asdzáͅáͅ 'woman', nádleeh 'she is born again and again', and the relative -é. It is quite possible that the Chiricahua form is a borrowing from Navaho which has been altered to adapt it to Chiricahua religious beliefs.

8. 'iłdóͅ 'also' [part.]. Cf. -dó 'also' [encl.].

Ethnological Note 1
Literally, "he by reason of whom there is life." This is one of the names by which the creator of the world is designated. The conception of a Creator is not sharply defined for the Chiricahua Apache and seems to have little relation to other phases of their religious thinking. It is quite possible that the concept is a result of Western European contact.

Ethnological Note 2
White Painted Woman is the mother of the culture hero, as the myth relates, and is the author of important Apache ceremonies and customs. It was she who gave instructions in the use of beneficial herbs, it is said.