So there were four existing at the very beginning [of time].
(1.3)[3]
`Ákoo díͅíͅ' jiłt'égo gojílíͅná'a,
dá'íłtségodeeyáshíͅ.
So there were four existing at the very beginning [of time].
[_]
(1.3) Linguistic Notes
1. díͅíͅ' jiłt'égo 'they, being four in
number'. Díͅíͅ' 'four'; jiłt'égo 3a person of -ł-t'é 'to be a certain number'
[imp. neut. intr.]; -go subordinating
enclitic.
2. gojílíͅná'a 'they were living, it is said'.
3a person of the verb go-ni-...-líͅ 'to live, to exist' [imp. neut. intr.]. Cf. note 1.1, §3.
Note that the 3a subject has here a plural referent.
3. dá'íłtségodeeyáshíͅ 'from the very
beginning'. dá- 'just, only' [procl.];
'íłtsé 'first' [part.; cf. note 1.1, §1];
godeeyá 'time has begun to move';
-shíͅ 'from' [pp.]. godeeyá is a third person si-
perfective with place pronoun of di-...[si- perf.]-yá 'one begins to move' [act. intr.; di- inceptive prefix]. From this form, it is clear
that the place pronoun may refer to time as well as space. dee- is a combination of the inceptive prefix
di- and the perfective prefix si- which, in most cases, results in dees-. Before a stem consonant y-, however, the final -s is
lost.
