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(1.1) Linguistic Notes
1. Tsék'eeshchíhé 'Coyote'. This is one of the many names
by which this mythical being is known. It is popularly translated 'he who has defecated
on a rock', an etymology which is kept alive by the tale recorded in Chiricahua text 14:
'Coyote and the Rolling Rock'. This etymology, however, is not verifiable by my
linguistic evidence. tsé- is undoubtedly to be identified
with tsé 'rock' and -é is
very likely the archaic relative, but k'eeshchíh- cannot
be explained as a form of the verb k'e-...[si-
perf.]-chiͅiͅ 'to defecate on' [act. intr.], the third
person perfective of which is yik'eeschaͅaͅ 'he has
defecated on it'.
2.
ndásá ch'éńyá 'he had gone
farther on'.
ndásá 'farther
on' plus the 3rd person perf. of ch'é-ni-...[ni-
perf.]-yá 'one person moves out' [act. intr.]. ch'é- 'out'; ni- completive; -yá
'one person moves'. The stem forms of this theme vary in Mesc. as they do in Chir. See
the Linguistic Notes to Chiricahua text 1.15, §2.
3. 'indaa'izhásheedatł'ijí
'Blue Bunting'. A compound of 'indaa'izháshee 'bunting'; datł'ij 'it is
blue'; and -í relative. 'indaa'izháshee is itself a compound of 'indaa 'white man' [see Linguistic
Note to Chiricahua text 6.3, §5] and 'izháshee 'bird'.
Later in the text [see passage 15], 'indaa'izháshee is used alone to refer to the Blue Bunting.
datł'ij is, as in Chir. [see the Linguistic Note to
Chiricahua text 28.1, §1], a third person form of da-ni-...-tł'ij 'to be blue' [imp. neut. intr.]. Note, however, that the final
consonant is -j as compared to Chir. -zh. One of the most striking phonetic distinctions
between Mesc. and Chir. is found in their treatment of the Ath. voiced final spirants:
Chir. -z, -zh regularly corresponding to Mesc. -dz, -j respectively. For a full account
of the phonetic distinctions between these two languages, see H. Hoijer, "The Southern
Athapaskan Languages" [American Anthropologist, Vol. 40, No. 1, Jan.-March 1938], pp.
75-87.
4. yaach'íńt'iná'a 'he had gone to him, it is said'. 3rd
person perf. of 0aa-ch'i-ni-...[ni- pf.]-t'é 'one person
moves to someone' [act. intr.]. aa- 'to' [pp.]; ch'i- ?; ni- completive. The theme
-t'é 'one person moves' is often used in Mesc. where the
theme -1-ghee would be used in Chir. Cf. the following Mesc. verbs based on -t'é with those Chir. verbs based on -l-ghee listed in the
Linguistic Note to Chiricahua text 13.7.
0aa-ch'i-ni-...[ni- perf.]-t'é 'one person goes to
someone' [act. intr.].
dah-ch'i-di-|...[ni- perf.]-t'é 'one person jumps out,
away; one person moves quickly' [act. intr.].
ch'i-ni-...[ni- perf.]-t'é 'one person comes' [act.
intr.].
ná-ch'i-ni-...[ni- perf.]oͅdoͅt'é 'one person comes back, one person goes back' [act. intr.].
yaa-ná-ch'i-|...[ni- perf.]-t'é 'one person jumps' [act. intr.].
Lexical differences such as this one, phonetic distinctions such as those referred to
in 3 above, and the few grammatical distinctions that are described in the Grammatical
Sketch constitute the main lines of diversion of Chir. and Mesc.
