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Its case marking follows the ergative–absolutive pattern where the subject of an intransitive verb is in the absolutive case (which is unmarked), the same case being used for the direct object of a transitive verb.
While the noun "mattock" is attested from Old English onwards, the transitive verb "to mattock" or "to mattock up" first appeared in the mid-17th century.
The word is analyzable as derived from the transitive verb mati "to know" with the prefix tla- indicating an unspecified inanimate object translatable by "something" and the derivational suffix -ni meaning "a person who are characterized by ...": hence tla-mati-ni "a person who is characterized by knowing something" or more to the point "a knower".
The absolutive case marks the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb (see ergative languages).
Tripartite language, also called an ergative–accusative language, a language treats the subject of an intransitive verb, the subject of a transitive verb, and the object of a transitive verb each in different ways