No Snopes.com, the word guacamole does not come from the Nahuatl word for "ground testicles or avocados".

We all know that guacamole is delicious (seriously, if I had to choose one food to eat the rest of my life guacamole would be a strong candidate), but what does the word mean?

Today Snopes.com, usually a good source for debunking of all kinds of myths, wrote about Nahuatl. Unfortunately they got it pretty much backwards, so now I have to write a blog-post debunking the debunkers.(Snopes has since corrected the entry, I give the link at the end of this blogpost)

The myth that Snopes was trying to debunk is that the word "guacamole" comes from a Nahuatl word meaning "testicle sauce". That it does is a meme that sometimes makes the rounds on the internet. (for example here, and here).

After "fact checking" the myth with dictionaries, before rewriting the article the Snopes writer concluded that "Avocado" does indeed come from a Nahuatl word that "also means testicle". But that "mole"  comes from the Spanish word moler "to grind". Neither of these conclusions are entirely correct, but the latter was outright false.

1. The Nahuatl word ahuacatl does not mean testicle. 

The Nahuatl word for the avocado (Persea americana) /a:wakatl/ (variously spelled ahuacatl, aguacatl, auacatl etc.) comes from a proto-Nahuan word *pawata which also means "avocado" - the word pawatl is still used for wild avocado in some Nahuatl varieties. All Nahuatl dictionaries give avocado fruit as the primary meaning of /a:wakatl/. But does or did the word also mean "testicle"?

A number of English etymological dictionary mention "testicle" in relation to the Nahuatl etymology of Nahuatl. One of them is Merriam-Webster and another is the Etymology Dictionary Online (which a couple of years ago I convinced to change the definition so that it no longer states that the original meaning of Nahuatl ahuacatl was "testicle"). They in turn get their data from Frances Karttunen's 1987 "Analytical Dictionary", the most esteemed Nahuatl-English dictionary, which lists the meaning of ahuacatl as simply "avocado, testicle". Karttunen in turn derives most of her entries from Alonso de Molinas 1571, which gives us the definition as "fruta conocida, o el compañon" (i.e. "a known fruit or the testicle" he uses the now outdated Spanish word compañon for testicle).

So the etymology is sound in the sense that we know that in the 16th century the word was used to refer both to the fruit and the body part - at least by some people in Mexico City where Alonso Molina grew up and learned Nahuatl on the streets with his indigenous friends. We know little more than that though, for all textual references to the word that I have come across use it only in the botanical-culinary meaning. And in Nahuatl speaking communities I have never met anyone who considered the word /a:wakatl/ to refer to anything but avocadoes. Molina himself gives a clue that this is the case because if you look in the Spanish part under compañon. Here, he does not give auacatl as a possible translation only the word atetl, which is a normal, anatomical, non-slang word for testicle in Nahuatl today and clearly also in the past (another common word is xitetl).

It would appear that the anatomical meaning is a euphemism, based on a certain similarity of shape, the same kind of euphemism that we make use of when we refer to a penis as "a wiener" or to testicles as "nuts" (or when Spanish speakers refer to testicles as "huevos" "eggs" or cebollas "onions"). We would however not generally consider it to be "partly correct" to say that "wiener schnitzel" kind of means "Penis schnitzel" or that "nut case" kind of means "testicle box". Nor would Spanish speakers consider it meaningful to say that "torta de huevo" kind of means "testicle sandwich".

So, no the Nahuatl word ahuacatl /a:wakatl/ does not mean "testicle", but because of the evocative shape of the fruit  it can be used metaphorically in that extended sense. And it is this extended sense that Molina recorded.

That was one out for snopes, but the second part is actually worse. Here the snopes writer goes completely off track.

2. The Mexican Spanish word "mole" does not come from Latin "molēre" but from Nahuatl /mo:lli/ "sauce"

She claims that the "mole" part of the word "guacamole" comes from the Spanish "moler" "to grind". This is intuitively plausible because indeed there is a bit of grinding taking place when one converts avocados into guacamole. But that two words look and have a plausible meaning alike of course does not mean that they share the same etymology. In this case there are very good reasons to think that the "mole" part does not come from Spanish, but from the Nahuatl word /mo:lli/ "sauce". The Snopes writer realizes that the word "molli" means sauce, but still she makes the weird claim that the word has now "converged with the infinitive moler". I dont know what this is supposed to mean.

But the main problem is that she was "unable to determine whether it [molli] originated from Nahuatl or entered it as a loan word from Spanish." I can help Snopes with that one: The Nahuatl word molli "sauce" is a noun derived from a root *mo:l that has to do with hard or thick things becoming liquid or soft. We have mo:loa "to dilute a sauce", mo:lehua "for earth to become soft" (and perhaps moloni "to bubble, swirl, flow"though the vowel length doesnt sem to match). So mo:lli most definitely is a native Nahuatl word meaning something like "watery emulsion".

The best reason is the Nahuatl word for guacamole is ahuacamolli, which is easily analyzable as "avocado sauce". The Nahuatl word ahuacamolli, is indeed also the generally accepted source of the Spanish word (even the RAE which is not known for getting indigenous language etymologies right actually gets this one right). But Snopes claims that it is the other way round, that Spanish guacamole was borrowed into Nahuatl as ahuacamolli! This would be a very weird borrowing indeed, since it was Nahuas who taught Spaniards to make ahuacamolli in the 16th century, and since Molina's dictionary (Molina defines auacamolli as a "manjar de auacates con chilli" which appropriately translates as "a feast of avocadoes with chili") and the Florentine codex attest the Nahuatl word in this period - long before the first appearances of the Spanish word. 

So the word guacamole does not come from a word meaning "testicle sauce", nor from a half Nahuatl half Spanish that can be analyzed as meaning "ground avocado" as Snopes.com implicitly suggests. It comes from the Nahuatl word ahuacamolli which means an "avocado based sauce". 

If Nahuas ever used the word as a slang word to refer to semen or other naughty "testicle juices" we will never know, but there is no evidence to suggest that they did.

Also: Pro-tip to Americans: Please stop saying "Guac" when you order guacamole in your burrito at Chipotle Mexican Grill. Whenever you utter this abbreviation a little Nahuatl speaking kitten somewhere dies.

[Update: Brooke Binkowski of Snopes.com has reacted to a link I posted on facebook to this blog, and edited the article which now no longer contains the (mis)information given above. ]

These are not The Hulk's testicles,
even if they do kind of look that way. (Photo from wikicommons)

La Familia "MATI" - Guest Blog by Nahuatlahtoh Francisco J. Hernández Maciel

This is a guest blog by Mexican Nahuatl scholar Francisco Jesús Hernández Maciel,  also known sometimes as Akapochtli. 
He has studied Nahuatl for 40 years  and is a proficient speaker of modern Guerrero Nahuatl,  
as well as a master of the colonial literary language. 

In this article he gives an overview of the large family of words derived from the verb "MATI". 

The blog is in Spanish, which I hope most of our readers will be able to read.

La Familia Mati 

Francisco J. Hernández Maciel

Uno de los verbos más importantes de la lengua náhuatl sin duda es mati. Propiamente la familia mati a nivel filológicos son aquellos derivados con significados cercanos, teniendo la raíz mat- que deriva del proto-nahua mah- (forma que se preserva en el tiempo pretérito) y que tiene en la base 3 la forma de mach-, que es la que da origen al pasivo macho y al causativo machtiā (enseñar). Aquí incluimos otras formas que evolucionaron y que en la época clásica eran parecidas en sonido. (26 verbos en total).

De este verbo que es a la vez un auxiliar, surgen muchos otros nuevos verbos. Encontramos en el Gran Diccionario de los Verbos en Nāwatl, cerca de 130 cognados que lo tienen como terminación incluyendo sus causativos y aplicativos.

Esta primera parte, algo más filológica que la segunda, está organizada iniciando con las palabras con ma-, en negrita la entrada principal y le siguen significados según el contexto. Le sigue el inicio con tla-, que propiamente es sólo una entrada, aunque encontraremos en las distintas entradas sustantivos con esta sílaba que se relaciona con los verbos. Luego vienen los verbos que inician con ne- que se encuentra fijado a la raíz, siguen aquellos con una “i” (ih- ix-) y al último con te-. En algunos casos para evitar confusión fue necesario señalar de que raíz se componen los sustantivos.

mati. nino. pensar, sentir, reflexionar.

          nom- ahmīxko mokpa tommati = eres un imbécil

                    ahiw ninomati = tomar las cosas en mal sentido

                    tētech ninomati = gustar de la compañía de alg., estar a gusto con alg.

                    tētech momati = familiar, bueno, dulce

                    iwkin aokmo nehwātl ninomati = no me reconozco, estoy fuera de mí.

        nitē. conocer

        nitla. saber

                   noyōlloh kimati = sospechar

                   ahtleh noyōlloh kimati =no tener nada que reprocharse

                   iw kimati noyōlloh = decir lo que se piensa

                   tēihtik nontlamati = adivinar el pensamiento de alguien

                   zenkah tleh tikmati = pon mucha atención, ten mucho cuidado

                   nohwiyān macho = ser evidente, muy conocido

      mahmati. nino. estar avergonzado, estar confuso (forma frec.)

                nitē. sentir vergüenza de alg.

machiā. ni. ser conocido, descubierto

               ninotla. ser el primero en escoger, en servirse

               nitētla. repartir, juzgar según el mérito de cada uno

               nitlatla. ilustrar un libro, hacer algo con habilidad

  

        machiliā. nitētla, niktē. repartir algo según el mérito de cada uno (aplic. de machiā)

                        (también es el aplicativo de mati)

                                                              tinēchmachiliā in notlahtlakōl = conoces mis pecados

        machītiā. nino. darse a conocer, mostrarse

                          nitla. hacer saber, notificar (causativo)

                         nitētla, niktē. hacer  ver, mostrar algo, informar

                       (también es el reverencial de mati)

                                                  tehwātzin tikmomachītiā = sabes lo que es necesario, lo que conviene

       machiltiā. (rev. alternativo de mati)

*machiztiā. nitla. publicar, anunciar, notificar (forma semi-causativa de machizti)

machtiā. nino. aprender

                 nitē. enseñar

                 ninotla. (rev. alternativo de mati)

                                                 tehwātzin tikmomachtiā = tú sabes lo que es necesario

         mahmachtiā. nitla. probar algo (forma frec.)

                                 nitē. poner a prueba a alg.

         machtiliā. ninotē. enseñar, instruir (reverencial de machtiā)

tlamachtiā.  nino. ser rico, ser feliz                                             tlamachtiā ≠ tlamach

                       ninotē, nikno. gozar de alguien                                             (suavemente, poco a poco)

                       nitē. enriquecer, hacer feliz

          tlamachtīlli. discípulo, alumno. R. machtiā

          tlamatiliztli. ciencia, saber. R. mati

          tlamatini. sabio, hábil. R. mati

nemachiliā. nitla, nik. ser árbitro // ser elegante, embellecer. Rel.  machiā

          nemachiliztli. sentimiento. R. mati

nemachitiā.  \      nitē. preparar, prevenir, advertir

nemachtiā.   /      nino. arreglarse, prepararse. Rel. machiā

        nematiliztli. idea, pensamiento. R. mati

netlamachtiliā.   \        nitē. enriquecer.    R. tlamachtiā

netlamachtiltiā.  /

                netlamachtiliztli. prosperidad, riqueza   \          R. tlamachtiā

                netlamachtīlli. bienestar, prosperidad    /

ihmati. nino. ser prudente, ser perspicaz // estar mejor

                               wel mihmati = es prudente, juicioso

                    nitla. preparar, disponer, llevar un asunto con habilidad

        ihihmati. nin. arreglarse, embellecerse (forma frecuentativa que le cambia el sentido)

īxihmati. nino. ser prudente, estar mejor (en las variantes modernas ha evolucionado a ixmati)

                  nitē. conocer a alguien

                  nitla. conocer, probar, experimentar

       / īxihmachiliā. nitē dar a conocer a alg.  Aplic. īxihmati

      |  īxihmachtiā. ninotē, niktē. dar a conocer.  Caus. īxihmati

      |                         nitētla. notificar

       \ īxihmachtiliā. nitē. dar a conocer

*īxmachtiā. nitētla. hacer saber algo a alguien (forma única de incorporación īxtli-machtiā)

*īxtlamachtiā. nitē. instruir, educar, enseñar.   R. īx-tla-machtiā ≠ tlamachtiā (Véase más abajo el causativo de īxtlamati)

                            īxtlamachiliztli. razón, prudencia. Rel. a īxtlamati

temachiā. nino. tener confianza, esperar algo

                   nitē. confiar, esperar algo de alg.

                   nitla. esperar algo

                                   zenkah nitlatemachiā = esperar algo ansiosamente

                                   ahtleh niktemachiā = no desear nada, tener grandes riquezas

             temachiliztli. estimación, consideración

             tēmachitiliztli. notificación, divulgación. R. machītiā

             tēmatiliztli. afecto, estimación.  R. mati

Por lo que tenemos:

            mati/machiā                     tlamachtiā                    ihmati/īxihmati                        temachiā

                 sentir                              enriquecer                     ser prudente                             confiar

     En esta segunda parte, algo más lexicológica, cuantificaremos y razonaremos los verbos de la siguiente manera: los directamente compuesto con sustantivos que son 38, los derivados verbales y adverbiales unidos por medio de la ligadura -kā- son 13, una forma no reconocida y que da sentidos no del todo predecibles, tlamati, tiene 23 entradas; según Carochi-Paredes se usa mati con verbos en pasivo para expresar la idea de “se piensa, se considera, siento que”, son pocos los verbos encontrados con esta característica 8. En el análisis también se incluye la terminación machtiā (9 verbos) y el derivado ihmati (4 verbos) que ya vimos se aleja del sentido de mati.

     En esencia los nuevos verbos obtenidos de sustantivos tiene el sentido de “sentir algo como, considerar, estimar, tener por…”, siendo los más fáciles de comprender los que se conjugan con nino- :

(āchkāwtli - principal, superior) āchkāwmati. nitē. considerar como superior

(ēllelli = pena, disgusto) ēllelmati. nino. sentir disgusto

                                            ēllelmachītiā. nitē. hacer enfadar, irritar

(iknōtl = pobre, huérfano) iknōmati. nino. humillarse

                                                iknōnemachītiā. nitē. humillar

(iknōpilli = huérfano, mérito) iknōpilmati. nitla. agradecer con humildad

(kehkelli = burla, broma) kehkelmati. nino. considerar que se burlan de uno.

 (*kōā = comunal, colectivo) kōāmati.nitē. albergar, recibir con hospitalidad

(mawiztli = respeto) mawizmati. nitē. apreciar, estimar

 (nāwatīlli = orden, regla) nāwatīlmati. nino. recibir órdenes, someterse

(nematiliztli = opinión)nematilizmati. nitē. seguir la opinión de alguien, aceptar su criterio

(pipil, pilli = niño) pipilmati. nino. decir que se tiene menos edad

     Únicamente dos verbos (un tercero se verá al final junto con las formas irregulares) conservan el sentido de “conocer”:

(chiko = de lado) chikomati. nino. conocer mal // tētech nino. tener mala opinión de alguien

(ilwikatlamatiliztli = astrología) ilwikatlamatilizmati. ni. conocer la astrología

     Cuatro verbos tienen un sentido cercano con palabras que denotan castigo:

(kuawitl = palo) kuammati. nitla. sufrir, soportar con tristeza

(tletl = fuego) tlemati. nitla sufrir, soportar con pena, con tristeza

 (chālchiwitl = jade) chālchiwmati.nitla. ser paciente, soportar la adversidad

(teōxiwitl = turquesa) teōxiwmati. nitla. ser paciente, soportar con resignación

     Se utiliza tahtli (padre) y nāntli (madre) para expresar “considerar, tener como sostén”. Además se puede comparar el sentido de la composición con las palabras hombre (tlākatl) y mujer (ziwātl); “sentir a alguien como hombre” se vuelve obedecer, “sentir a alguien como mujer” se transforma en reconocer su calidad:

 (tahtli = padre) tahmati. nino. considerarse el sostén del estado

(nāntli = madre) nāmmati. nitē. tener a alguien por sostén

(tlākatl = hombre) tlākamati. nitē. obedecer

                                  tlākamachiltiā. ninotē. obedecer

 (ziwātl = mujer) ziwāmati. nitla. estar agradecido con su esposa

(tēntli = labio, orilla) tēmmati. tēmati. nitla. ser descuidado, perezoso

(tētzāwitl = portento, augurio) tētzāmmati. nitla. creer en los augurios

(totokiliztli = ligereza, agilidad) totokilizmati. nino. querer salir, querer el despido

(tlakōtl = vara) tlakōmati. nitla. descuidar por pereza

(tlazohtli = aprecio, cariño) tlazohmati.nitē. dar gracias, reconocer un favor

(wēyi = grande) wēyimati. nitē. estimar, apreciar

(wel = bien) welmati. nino. sentirse bien

                                       nitla. estar contento de algo

(xōchitl = flor) xōchimati. nino. alegrarse mucho

                          xōchmati. nino. tratarse bien (posiblemente la diferencia de sentido no sea tan grande)

(xōkoyōtl = el hijo más joven)  xōxōkoyōmati. nitē. mimar, halagar, acariciar

(yoliztli = vida) yolizmati. ni. ser prudente

(yōllohtli = corazón) yōllohmati. nitē. adivinar las intenciones, comprender lo que quiere hacer

(zem = completo) zemati.nino. ser orgulloso

(teōtl = dios, divinidad) teōmati. nitla. rezar, ocuparse de las cosas espirituales(Simeón así lo actualizó, aunque Molina no lo tradujó por rezar). Launey en la práctica lo traduce diferente: Nikteōmati in Totēukyo, tengo a Nuestro Señor por Dios. (página 263, bajo la idea de “considerar” “tener por”).

El "adverbio" o "adjetivo" con -kā- incorporado califica en general al sujeto del verbo principal pero también en ocasiones al objeto:

(ahzikā = alcanzado) ahzikāmati.ni.nitla. comprender (considerar alcanzado)

(ahwiākā = suave, oloroso) ahwiākāmati. nik. considerar = encontrar bueno, suave algo

(etikā = pesado) etikāmati. nik. considerar = creer, juzgar una cosa pesada

(iknōpillawēlīlōkā = ingratamente) iknōpillawēlīlōkāmati. nitē. considerar = juzgar como ingrato

(ixwikā = hartado) ixwikāmati. nino. considerarme = comer razonablemente

(iztlakā = falsamente) iztlakāmati. nitē. considerar = acusar en falso

(nālkīzkā = salido de lado) nālkīzkāmati. nitla. comprender, entender

(tlawēlīlōkā = bribonamente) tlawēlīlōkāmati. nitē. considerar bribón a alguien

(tlazohkā = afectuoso, amoroso) tlazohkāmati. nitē. considerar = agradecer

                                                 tlazohkāmachiltiā. ninotē.  estar agradecido                                                    

(wēyikā = en grande) wēyikāmati. nitē. considerar = apreciar, estimar

(wēlikā = sabroso) wēlikāmati. nitla. considerar = encontrar bueno lo que se come

(zēkokā = separadamente  ) zēkokāmati. nino. considerarse superior a los demás, ser presuntuoso

     Los compuestos con tlamati se caracterizan por ser formas intransitivas, a excepción del  derivado verbal de kāwaliztli  que aparece con /nik/ en el diccionario pero creo que es un error de Molina; en varios casos encontramos que tienen una forma causativa en machtiā y por lo tanto transitiva pero no se relaciona con “enseñar”, los verbos son:

ahtlamati. n. enorgullecerse

                        (causativo) ahtlamachtiā. nitē. alabar, halagar a alguien

chikotlamati. ni. ser suspicaz

iknīwtlamati. n. ser amigo, obrar como amigo

iknōtlamati. n. entristecerse, afligirse

                       (causativo) iknōtlamachtiā. nitē. dar compasión, provocarla

īxtlamati. n. tener experiencia, ser prudente

                      (causativo) īxtlamachtiā. nitla. hacer algo con prudencia

kāwaliztlamati. nik. dejar sus bienes (en Molina aparece con el negativo; ahnik. no querer ser privado de lo que posee defendiéndose)

kuawtlamati. ni. esculpir madera // nitla. imputar

                                   (causativo) kuawtlamachtiā. nitē. acusar

nēntlamati. ni. preocuparse, estar afligido (aparece en los documentos también como “netlamati”)

                            (causativo) nēntlamachtiā. nitē. afligir, atormentar

pinawiztlamati. ni. enrojecer, sentir vergüenza

telpōchtlamati. ni. rejuvenecer

tlahtlamati. ni. ser bufón, hacer gestos (forma frecuentativa)

wāllamati. ni. frecuentar a menudo un lugar (wāl + tlamati)

wellamati. ni. estar contento (wel + tlamati)

                    (causativo) wellamachtiā. nitē. dar gusto, dar satisfacción

yoliwtlamati. ni. ser prudente, discreto (*yōliw sólo aparece en pocos compuestos, Simeón lo hace derivar del impersonal yōliwa pero estamos viendo que los compuestos con tlamati son en su mayoría sustantivos o palabras que suelen aparecer solas o en compuestos como: ah- (negación), chiko (de lado), nēn (en vano), wel (bien), pienso que *yōliw (inspirado, atento, consuelo) es de este tipo de partícula, tal vez un arcaísmo de iyōlik (despacio, tranquilamente). Según An Analytical Dictionary se compone de yōl unido a iw (iuh).

                             (causativo) yoliwtlamachtiā. nitē. certificar

yōllohtlamati. ni. conjeturar

iwkātlamati. ni. sorprenderse, asustarse, quedar espantado (en Molina aparece como iuhcan-tlamati, al parecer es una /n/ epéntica)

     Además de las formas vistas con īxihmati, que se consideraron como variantes primarias de mati y que en realidad son la incorporación de īxtli (cara, rostro) con ihmati, tenemos otros cuatro compuestos con este verbo:

ōpōchihmati. n. nin. alegrarse mucho

temikīxihmati. ni. explicar los sueños

tlahtōlihmati. nino. hablar prudentemente

yāōihmati. nino. ser hábil en el arte de la guerra

     Carochi explica una composición de verbos que derivan del pasivo y que incorporan mati, se usa para expresar una opinión, un parecer. Como ejemplo pone telchiwa que significa despreciar, el verbo  conserva su propiedad transitiva o reflexiva; su pasivo es telchiwalo y al entrar en composición pierde la –o. El verbo obtenido de hecho no aparece en Molina o Simeón, que es telchiwalmati:

     Niktelchiwalmati in nonāmik = Me parece, que menosprecian a mi esposa.

     Nikintelchiwalmati in tētēuktin = Pienso, que desprecian a los principales.

     Se puede usar la forma reflexiva para expresar que uno es el objeto de la acción:

Ninotelchiwalmati = pienso, que me desprecian.

     En Simeón encontramos otros seis verbos y un causativo con esta característica, pero la traducción que nos ofrece y el uso no concuerda del todo con lo que acabamos de ver, por lo que hay que pensar en corregir el sentido y sobre todo usarlos con propiedad.

     Así aparecen en el diccionario:

iknelīlmati. nitē.nitla. expresar su reconocimiento (ikneliā = hacer el bien, reconocer que se hace el bien)

                      nino. ser agradecido

                     iknelīlmachiltiā. nitē. dar las gracias por algo, reconocer un favor

kekelōlmati. nino. ser escarnecido, ridiculizado (kekeloā = ridiculizar, burlarse)

kokolīlmati. nino. pensar que se es detestado (kokoliā = aborrecer)

nekuiltonōlmati. nitla. considerar como una riqueza, estimar, apreciar (nekuiltonoā = enriquecer)

panawīlmati. ninotē. ser presuntuoso, individualista (panawiā = sobrepasar, aventajar)

xixikōlmati. nino. hacerse satirizar (xikoā =burlar)

     Ejemplos de correcto uso:

Tikimiknelīlmatih in nowānyōlkeh = Nos parece, que agradecen a mis parientes.

Antēchkekelōlmatizkeh yeīka iw tiknōmeh = Pensarán ustedes, que se burlarán de nosotros porque somos pobres.

Ōnikkokolīlmah in ichtekki = Pensé, que era detestado el ladrón.

Tikinnekuiltonōlmatiya in pōchtēkah = Pensabas, que apreciaban a los comerciantes.

Ninopanawīlmati ītech tlaīxihmachiliztli in tlamatinimeh = Me parece, que aventajo a los sabios en conocimiento.

Nikxixikōlmati in xōchicuīkapīkki ītlahtōl = Pienso, que satirizan las palabras del poeta.

     En este listado incluimos formas con la terminación machtiā, que vimos que en su mayoría son causativos, excepto nueve verbos en lo que sí significan “enseñar”.

mazāmachtiā. ni. domar caballos, ciervos

         mazāmamachtiā. ni. adiestrar caballos (frec.)

mākkuawmachtiā. nitē. enseñar esgrima

nohnōtza(la)lizmachtiā. nitē. enseñar retórica (así aparece en Simeón pero no lo tomó de Molina, lo más seguro es un error de transcripción, la forma correcta sería “tēnohnōtzalizmachtiā”)

ohmachtiā. nitē. indicar el camino

pākkāmachtiā. nitē. enseñar con gusto

yōlzewkākopamachtiā. nitē. enseñar con dulzura (yōlzewkāyōtl = dulzura)

yāōmachtiā. nino. ejercitarse en las armas

                       nitē. enseñar esgrima

         yāōmāmachtiā. nitē. enseñar belicosidad (frec.)

     Por último tenemos formas irregulares o que no derivan de mati.

     Mikiztemachiā. nitē. desear la muerte. Posiblemente derivado de temachiā, confiar.

     Tlahtlakōlmachiliā. nitē.saber, conocer los pecados ajenos. Es el aplicativo de *tlahtlakōlmati (tlahtlakōlli = pecado) que no aparece, pero conserva el sentido de conocer.

     Tōnallāntlamachtiā. mo. despoblarse un país. Combinación de un locativo (Tōnallān Lugar del Sol, tiempo de estío) con posiblemente tlamachtiā. Según Molina es una forma metafórica.

     Yōllamachiliā. nik. considerar, examinar dentro de sí. También forma aplicativa de un inexistente *yōllamati (yōl-tlamati), con el sentido de yōl- como algo interno.

     Zentlamachtiā. nitē. glorificar, enriquecer. Nitla. gozar. Este verbo no es irregular, es una clara combinación de zen (entero, completamente) y el ya visto tlamachtiā (enriquecer).

     Wālmati. nitē. visitar, dirigirse a alguien, implorar. Tenemos el prefijo direccional wāl- pero no con el sentido esperado de “ir a conocer, conocer por allá”; en todo caso sería un sentido metafórico el de “visitar” (más recomendable usar ziawketza o incluso tlahpaloā) y aún más dudosa la idea de implorar, para la cual podemos usar chōkiztzahtzi o tlahtlawtiā.

KA YE IXKICH

  

ABREVIATURAS

* / Signo con dos usos, para formas irregulares y para reconstrucciones teóricas

alg. / alguien

aplic. / aplicativo

caus. / causativo

R. / Raíz

rel. / relacionado con

rev. / reverencial

frec. / frecuentativo

BIBLIOGRAFÍA MÍNIMA

* Andrews, Richard. Introduction to classical náhuatl. Austin, University of Texas Press, 1975.

* Carochi, Horacio. Arte de la Lengua mexicana. Reproducción de la edición de 1645, UNAM, 1983.

* Kartunnen, Frances. An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl. Austin, University of Texas Press, 1983.

* Launey, Michel. Introducción a la Lengua y Literatura Náhuatl. UNAM, 1992.

* Lockhart, James. Nahuatl as Written. Standford University Press. 2001.

* Molina, Fray Alonso de. Vocabulario en lengua castellana-mexicana, mexicana-castellana. Editorial Porrúa, Quinta Edición 2004.

* Simeón, Rēmi. Diccionario de la lengua Náhuatl. Editorial Siglo XXI, 1988.

* Swadesh, Mauricio y Madalena Sancho. Los mil elementos del náhuatl clásico. IIH-UNAM, 1966.

Tongues of Aztlan: The Nahua migrations and dialectology

In my last post I showed the basic split between eastern and western Nahuatl dialects, and how different dialects could be classified as belonging to either of the two branches. In this post I summarize a talk I gave at the Mesoamerican conference at CalState L.A. this past saturday, in which I gave my interpretation of the history of migrations that brought the Nahuas to their current locations from their ancestral homeland.

My narrative is based on three avenues of evidence:

1. Linguistic evidence. By analyzing how the structure of shared linguistic innovations between dialects reflect historical relationships and splits, give us a way to understand how ancestral dialect groups moved, split and moved again. 
2. Ethnohistorical evidence. By analyzing accounts told by the Nahuas about their own past we can find clues to how they themselves understood the relaiton between groups of speakers and their historical and geographic relations.
3. Archeological evidence. By analyzing material culture in different locations we can trace population movements and cultural innovations or changes. 

There are several different views of where the Nahuan languages originated:

Terrence Kaufman 2001 thinks the proto-Nahuan language must have been spoken somewhere North of the Huasteca region in Tamaulipas or San Luis Potosi before entereing the basin of Mexico where according to his interpretation they the Western group split off.  His main argument for this location is what he sees as loanwords in proto-Nahuan from Wastek/Huastec Mayan (Teenek) and the Otomanguean language Pame. 

Christensen and Beekman 2003, rather see the homeland in the Bajio region of Zacatecas, Jalisco, Aguacalientes and Queretaro. This view they base on the fact tha they have archeologically documented a large population movement out of this region into central Mexico starting in about 500AD. 

Other, less well supported suggestions for the location of the ancestral Proto-Nahuan speech community include the coast of Nayarit and even Durango/Sonora/Chihuahua. I follow Christensen and Beekman, both because I disagree with Kaufman regarding the Teenek influence in proto-Nahuan which I find negligible, and also because my own investigations have found more commonalities between Nahuan and Cora (Naayerite) and Huichol (Wixarika), suggesting to me a more westerly origin in contact with these languages. My interpretation of contact in Nahuan prehistory is thus more consonant with Christensen and Beekman than with Kaufman's account. 

This then, using the three kinds of evidence and the Bajio as a place of origin, provides us with the following narrative: 

Late Classic (500-600AD):

By the late classic Speakers of Eastern Nahuatl are entering Mesoamerica from the Bajio, drawn by the metropolis of Teotihuacan. They settle in a broad area across the central highlands from the Huastec region to Guererro. Possibly the Huastec and Guerrero branches already split from the other Eastern languages - or mor likely they formed a dialect continuum, which was only subsequently broken apart.

Epiclassic (600-800AD):

Then at the fall of Teotihuacan around 600AD the demographic weight of Central Mexico shifts towards the new centers of Cholula/Cacaxtla, and Xochicalco. Here Eastern Nahuas come into contact with Maya speakers - Maya influence in the Cholula region in this period is well documented. Perhaps, including the ancestors of the Teenek Maya people, if we assume that they had not yet arrived in their current location (this is in contrast to Kaufman's view of Huastecs arriving in their current position much earlier than that, but consonant with Robertson and Houston's argument for a much later Huastec migration). Cholula is one of the centers from which the religion based around the worship of Quetzalcoatl spreads, southeast in to the Maya region and west into the highlands.

Early Post-Classic (800-1000)

In this period Western Nahuas, who had stayed behind in contact with Naayerite, Wixarika and Otomi people move into Central Mexico settling at the site of Tula, Hidalgo. Previous scholars such as Una Canger 1988 and Terrence Kaufman have seen Tula as a center of dispersal of Eastern Nahuatl. I disagree, since I consider this date to be much too late, and because there are no Eastern varities spoken in the area of Tula, only Western ones and Otomi. Kaufman consider the Otomies to be a later intrusion in the area - I know of no convincing evidence for this. Rather I think that clearly the Western Nahuas were closely aligned with Otomies (e.g. the Acolhua of Texcoco were multiethnic Otomi-Nahuas even in the14th century), and probably Tula, was composed of both Otomi and Nahua populations. The many important calques between Otomi and Nahua described by David Wright Carr, date to this period, and I believe a number of loans in both directions as well.

Then after settling in Tula, the Western Nahuas who use /ahmo/ as their only negation word, move into the Central Mexico Valley and arrive in Cholula. Here they rout the Eastern Nahuas and Mayas who live there, and make them flee towards the gulf coast, towards the province of Olman-Xicallanco. This event is suggested by the account in the Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca which tells us about the invasion of Tolteca-Chichimeca who rout the Olmeca-Xoiclanca from Cholula. It is also supported by the work of Geoffrey McCafferty whose excavations at Cholula have demonstrated warfare and a change in the material culture of the site around the time of the entry of the Eastern Nahuas (his Olmeca-Xicallanca) in the 7th century and at the time of the entry of the Western Nahuas (his Tolteca-Chichimeca) in the 9th century. My argument here is that the Olmeca-Xicallanca only came into existence when they left Cholula, for Olman-Xicallanco - that is they were named after the destination where they went after leaving Cholula, and not for their origin before arriving there. The arrival of the Western Nahuas split the Eastern Nahuas into three groups - the Isthmian group who settled the gulf coast of southern Veracruz and well into Tabasco, and the North-Eastern Huastec-Nahuas who settled in the Sierra Huasteca.  The Sierra de Puebla varieties also split off at this time. The Isthmian and Sierra de Puebla groups subsequently changed /tl/ to /t/, developed new grammatical strategies for negation, and began dropping their /y/s wordinitially before /e/.  Perhaps the fact that one of the Eastern group of Nahuas the Isthmians, changed their /tl/ to  /t/ is due to Maya influence, since there is no /tl/ sound in Mayan, and Maya speakers must have found it hard to pronounce. The Isthmian Nahuas, also seem to have had the closest ties to the Chontal Mayas in the Tabasco region where both languages are still spoken in close contact.

Another group of Western Nahuas split from the central group going into Mexico state, backtracking towards the pacific coast and north into Michoacan, Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit and Durango. They became the Western Peiphery. They are characterized by a frequent if sporadic change of /tl/ to /l/, and the use of -lo for the plural subject, and a number of other innovations. 

Postclassic: 1000-1500AD

The Postclassic period sees the continued dominance of Western Nahuas centered in the Mexico Valley, the rise of Azcapotzalco, and later the triple alliance. During this period Western features extend into most of the historically Eastern varieties, creating a zone of diffusion in the central Nahua speaking area  (from the sierra Zongolica across Southern Puebla into Morelos and Central Guerrero) where Western and Eastern traits mingle freely. With the rise of Tenochtitlan, Western influence reaches its maximum extent and, except for Pipil which has by then reached in El Salvador and Guatemala, no Eastern varieties escape being influenced by Western Nahuatl.

Conclusions:

This narrative leads us to the current distribution with clearly demarcated Western and Eastern peripheries, and a large central diffusion area marked by dialect mixture and koineization (as suggested by Canger 2011).  My narrative builds on and is largely consonant with most other studies, and mostly differ in the timing and in the identification of Tula as the center of the Western dispersal and Cholula as the center of Eastern dispersal. 

Bibliography:

Canger, U. (1988). Nahuatl dialectology: A survey and some suggestions.International Journal of American Linguistics, 28-72.

Canger, U. (2011). El nauatl urbano de Tlatelolco/Tenochtitlan, resultado de convergencia entre dialectos: Con un esbozo brevísimo de la historia de los dialectos. Estudios de cultura Náhuatl, 42, 243-258.

Canger, U., & Dakin, K. (1985). An inconspicuous basic split in Nahuatl.International journal of American linguistics, 358-361.

Kaufman, T. (2001). The history of the Nawa language group from the earliest times to the sixteenth century: Some initial results. Paper posted online at http://www. albany. edu/anthro/maldp/Nawa. pdf. University of Pittsburgh.

Kaufman, T., & Justeson, J. (2009). Historical linguistics and pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Ancient Mesoamerica, 20(02), 221-231.

Robertson, J., & Houston, S. (2015). The Huastec Problem. in Faust, K. A., & Richter, K. N. (Eds.). (2015). The Huasteca: Culture, History, and Interregional Exchange. University of Oklahoma Press.

McCafferty, G. G. (1996). Reinterpreting the great pyramid of Cholula, Mexico.Ancient Mesoamerica, 7(01), 1-17.

McCafferty, G. G. (1996). The ceramics and chronology of Cholula, Mexico.Ancient Mesoamerica, 7(02), 299-323.

Carr, D. C. W. (2008). La Sociedad Prehispánica en las Lenguas Náhuatl y Otomí◊. Acta Universitaria, 18(Esp), 15-23.

Eastern and Western Nahuatl Dialects

As noted in previous blogs, I am working on analyzing and understanding Nahuan dialectology, dialectology of course being the study of patterns of regional variation.

The way this works is that one looks at the linguistic traits that vary between how Nahuatl is spoken in different regions, and then classify the dialect of each region into the varieties that they are most similar to. Classification can be based simply on superficial similarity, grouping everything similar together, or it can be based on historical development, where you classify dialects together that seem to share a single origin because they display shared innovations.

Another way is to classify by region. Here the tricky part is that the number of possible regions is almost infinite. One could potentially classify each of the many thousand local communities where the 1,5 million Nahuatl speakers live each as a separate dialect. Because every local community has certain ways of speaking that set them off from their neighbors. Dialect areas then are areas regions where certain traits a more frequent than in other regions, with the caveat that not every dialect in the area necessarily has all of the features characteristic of the area were it is spoken, and some dialects in other regions may have them too.

In the literature on Nahuatl dialectology the basic division is both regional and historical. It divides all the Nahuan languages into two basic groups: The Eastern and the Western dialects. This grouping was first proposed by Una Canger and Karen Dakin in 1985. They had realized that some dialects systematically had the vowel /i/ in certain words where other dialects had /e/. They also noted that all of the words where this correspondence was found corresponded to words that had oeiginally had the vowel *u in Proto-Uto-Aztecan (PUA).  The words they focused on were tesi/tisi "to grind" (from PUA *tusu), sentli/sintli "corn" (from PUA *sunu), iste/isti "fingernail" (from PUA *sutu) and ihte/ihti "stomach" (which Daking and Canger reconstruct as coming from PUA *patu, I am personally a little dubious of this form). The i forms were generally found in the dialects in the extreme eastern range of the area where Nahuatl is spoken, and the e forms were generally found in the western extreme.

Later Dakin (2000) and Canger (1988) each added some new traits to each of the two areas. Canger noted that in the Western area, the prefix o- is used to mark the past tense, and in the Eastern area it is absent, and that Eastern dialects tend to put the adverb ok after the predicate it modifies whereas in the West it precedes it. Dakin noted that the Western dialects tend to have ye- in a number of forms where the Eastern dialects have e- (e.g. yetl/etl (bean), yestli/estli (blood), yeyi/eyi (three) and yepatl/epatl "skunk"). Dakin saw that each of these words originally began with *p in PUA, and she surmised that the *p had changed into /y/ in the West but had disappeared entirely in the East.

In a recent paper of my own I argue that the two dialect areas also differ in the way that they negate sentences. Western dialects all use the adverb ahmo or ammo as the negator in all sentences. But in Eastern Nahuatl other words are used, either instead of ahmo or in addition to ammo. For example in the Huasteca region the negator is the prefix ax-, in the Puebla Highlands it is kanah, in Guerrero it is ka, and in the isthmus it is aya', ate, the prefix ah- or in Tabasco the word até and in El Salvador nite, inte ot tesu. In many Eastern varieties there are more than one negator and the use depends on the mood of the clause, one may be used for imperatives, subjunctives and conditionals and another for realis/indicative sentences for example.

The map below shows the locations of Eastern (red) and Western (blue) dialects. It also includes the extinct Pochutec language which seems to have split from proto-Nahuan before the split between Eastern and Western varieties. I have colored the varieties of Central Guerrero purple, that is because they seem to me to be conservative sharing few of the innovations of the other areas, and possibly have split also very early perhaps before the East-West split. (Note also that the varieties in Chiapas went extinct in the early 20th century, and that there are very few speakers in Jalisco).

"Classical" and Central Nahuatl are mixed dialects!

So what about "Classical Nahuatl". Well first of all I don't think that is a very good name for the colonial Nahuatl that we know from so many sources. I think it is better to call it colonial Nahuatl. The best known variety of colonial Nahuatl is the one from Mexico City, based on the dialect of Tetzcoco. Canger (2011) has argued very convincingly that this dialect which she calls Urban Nauatl, was a mixture of Eastern and Western varieties, that arose as people form different dialect areas mingled in the great city of Tenochtitlan.

Definitely many of the Central varieties seem to have traits from both Eastern and Wstern branches, and it is sometimes difficult to classify them. This is probably because the Eastern varieties must have been in the area longest and Western dialects then arrived later imposing their prestige language on the earlier speakers of Eastern Nahuatl. This would mean that many of the Central dialects (e.g. in Puebla, Morelos, Zongolica) are Western dialects with an Eastern substrate.

Works cited:

*Canger, Una. 1988. “Nahuatl Dialectology: A Survey and Some Suggestions” International Journal of American Linguistics 54:28-73.
*Canger, Una. 1988b [1978]. Subgrupos de los dialectos Nahuas. In Smoke and Mist, Mesoamerican Studies in memory of Thelma Sullivan. Kathryn Josserand & Karen Dakin (eds.) B.A.R. International Series 402.
*Canger, Una. 2011. "El nauatl urbano de Tlatelolco/Tenochtitlan, resultado de convergencia entredialectos, con un esbozo brevísimo de la historia de los dialectos". Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl (Mexico: UNAM): 243–258.
*Canger, Una and Karen Dakin. 1985. An inconspicuous basic split in Nahuatl. International Journal of American Linguistics 51: 358–361.
*Dakin, Karen. 2000. Proto-Uto-Aztecan *p and the e/ye isogloss in Nahuatl Dialectology. In UtoAztecan: Structural, Temporal, and Geographic Perspectives. Eugene Casad & Thomas Willett (eds.) Hermosillo, Mexico: University of Sonora. pp. 213-19