Talk:yiłbéézh

Etymology

Why do none of the roots of this term mean "boil"? 71.66.97.228 17:36, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

The meaning is carried by the verb stem and lexical prefixes, if any. —Stephen ^(Talk) 18:01, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

If "-béézh" means "boil" then the etymology should say "imperfective verb stem for 'boil'" rather than "imperfective verb stem." 71.66.97.228 22:08, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

Should not need to repeat it. The verb means boils it and this is the only verb stem that it has. If you say that -béézh means boil, then how will you describe -né in naané? -né by itself doesn’t mean anything. Besides, saying -béézh means boil is misleading, since it is only the imperfective stem. The future stem, for example, is -bish. It is enough to say that yiłbéézh means he is boiling it, and that -béézh is the imperfective stem. —Stephen ^(Talk) 02:14, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

Verb stem doesn't seem to be purely about boiling

I'm curious if anyone knows of other meanings for this verb, and if it carries meanings (possibly archaic?) related to cooking something in a pot. By way of example, łeeʼshibéézh (“roasted corn”) includes a form of yishbéézh (“boiled it”) in a semantic role that is clearly not related to cooking in water, as roasting is a decidedly dry kind of cooking. Does this verb appear in other Athabaskan / Yeniseian languages? -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 05:01, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

Verb stem relation to béésh?

What connection is there to béésh / bibéézh? Is the semantic connection from flint to fire to cooking, or from metal to pot to cooking? The latter would suggest that this verb is a relatively recent development in the language since European contact. More likely it's neither and something else entirely, but whatever the case, I'd love to know more. -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 05:05, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

"To cook"

Is this term used to translate the English "to cook"? 71.66.97.228 06:00, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

No, íʼiishłaa (I prepare). —Stephen ^(Talk) 08:58, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

It is listed as such in the translations at cook. 71.66.97.228 09:01, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

It can only mean cook when cook means boil. It can’t be used for cooking fried eggs or baking a casserole. —Stephen ^(Talk) 09:48, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Then it should be removed from the translations at cook. 71.66.97.228 18:40, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

A great number of Navajo words, in particular the verbs, do not translate English verbs very well. There is no exact Navajo word for cook. When someone clicks on the translation, he can then get a better idea of its meaning. —Stephen ^(Talk) 04:16, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

That makes logical sense, but why is the Navajo term for "boil" (which is, as you said, a more specific form of cooking) there at cook, in the translations for the sense "to prepare," rather than íʼiishłaa, which actually does mean "to prepare"? 71.66.97.228 05:30, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Because no one has added íʼiishłaa yet. And cook is more specific than prepare. You can prepare a garden salad, but you don’t cook a garden salad (unless you put it in a pot of boiling water, which no one does). Cook and prepare are not exactly the same thing. —Stephen ^(Talk) 05:38, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

That makes sense, but I'm not sure whether boiling would have been the default or main method of cooking in Navajo culture, as meat or maize could, for example, be roasted over a fire; and of course frybread is deep fried. The English term "cooking" (meaning "to prepare") can probably include non-heated things such as salads, although they are not literally cooked. 71.66.97.228 07:35, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

I think boiling was the main method of cooking in Navajo culture. Frybread is a recent invention, not a traditional food, and deep-frying was unknown. To me, cooking cannot include nonheated things such as salads. There are no garden-salad cooks, no fruit-juice cooks. Not even jello cooks, even though jello does involve some heating. You can make jello, but no one says that they are cooking jello. —Stephen ^(Talk) 08:34, 31 August 2012 (UTC)