Where does “béésh łibáhí” come from?
béésh łibáhí (Navajo) comes from Navajo béésh, from Navajo biiʼ, from Navajo kǫʼ, from Proto-Athabaskan *qʊ̓nʼ — fire.
béésh łibáhí (Navajo): cobalt
Ancestry of “béésh łibáhí”, step by step
béésh łibáhí traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Navajo béésh
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Navajo | béésh | flint; iron; metal |
| 2 | Navajo | biiʼ | in it/him/her/them, within it/him/her/them,... |
| 3 | Navajo | kǫʼ | fire |
| 4 | Proto-Athabaskan | *qʊ̓nʼ | fire |
via Navajo łibá
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Navajo | łibá | it is gray |
| 2 | Navajo | łi- | An adjectival prefix that forms neuter imperfective verbs, especially those relating to color |
| 3 | Navajo | -ł- | The -ł- classifier or valence-change prefix, a... |
| 4 | Proto-Athabaskan | ɬ | — |