Where does “chéłchaaʼ” come from?

chéłchaaʼ (Navajo) comes from Navajo tsé, from Proto-Athabaskan *tseˑ, from Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit *caj.

chéłchaaʼ (Navajo): stag beetle

Definitions

  1. stag beetle

Ancestry of “chéłchaaʼ”, step by step

chéłchaaʼ traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Navajo tsé

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Navajotsérock, stone, boulder
2Proto-Athabaskan*tseˑstone
3Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit*caj—

via Navajo chaaʼ

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Navajochaaʼbeaver
2Proto-Athabaskan*tsaʔbeaver

Words derived from “chéłchaaʼ”

Every word from Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit *caj →Every word from Proto-Athabaskan *tseˑ →Every word from Navajo tsé →