«The key element in Navajo is the verb and is notoriously complex. Some noun meanings are provided by verbs, as in Hoozdo ‘Phoenix, Arizona’ (lit., ‘the place is hot’) and ch’é’étiin ‘doorway’ (lit., ‘something has a path horizontally out’). Many complex nouns are derived from nominalized verbs as well, as in ná’oolkiłí ‘clock’ (lit., ‘one that is moved slowly in a circle’) and chidí naa’na’í bee’eldǫǫhtsoh bikáá’ dah naaznilígíí ‘army tank’ (lit., ‘a car that they sit up on top of that crawls around with a big thing with which an explosion is made’).»
Navajo language – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
