According to Homeground: A Guide to the American Landscape, edited by Barry Lopez and Debra Gwartney, the Navajo term tsegi means “rock canyon.” This term was adapted into French as the name for the spectacular spot in Arizona known as Canyon de Chelly. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Tsegi”
Another word from home ground is segi, T-S-E-G-I.
Don’t know much about that.
Yeah.
Obviously not an English word.
Correct.
It comes from Navajo and basically means rock canyon.
And it’s also the source I was surprised to learn of the name Canyon de Chey,
which is one of my favorite places on the planet in Arizona,
Canyon de C-H-E-L-L-Y, which is a French corruption of Segi.
Oh, how about that?
So it just means canyon.
That’s it.
Okay, nice.
