Where does “tsétah dibé” come from?

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

tsétah dibé (Navajo): bighorn sheep

Definitions

  1. bighorn sheep

Ancestry of “tsétah dibé”, step by step

tsétah dibé traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Navajo tsétah

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Navajotsétahamong the rocks
2Navajotsérock, stone, boulder
3Proto-Athabaskan*tseˑstone
4Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit*caj—

via Navajo dibé

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Navajodibésheep
2Proto-Athabaskan*dəweˑsheep
Every word from Proto-Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit *caj →Every word from Proto-Athabaskan *tseˑ →Every word from Navajo tsé →