Oaxacan place names

[Frances Karttunen]

or what it's worth:


The Nahuatl ixtlahuatl means 'plain, savanna, open country'.

By adding locative -can to it, one gets a place name.  And the final -n of
-can tends to get dropped off.

So this gives the -ixtlahuaca part.

What kind of a plain?

Toton- looks like 'warm, hot' to me.

How about 'Warm Plain'?

BUT, the final -n of toton(qui) wouldn't likely turn up as -m- intervocalically.

Otomi-tl is the Nahuatl name for a particular ethnic group.  It can't just
pick up an initial t-.

Toto-tl is the Nahuatl word for 'wild bird' (as opposed to totol-in
'domestic bird, turkey hen').  I wouldn't be inclined to just throw in a
syllable-final nasal here just to make things work out.

I can't see how anybody would come up with tatal- from totol- either, but
of course if there is a mediating language with a really different
phonology, one can't predict without a lot more knowledge.

Lots of puzzles here.

Fran