Name of creation god

[John F. Schwaller]

I have just finished Kay Almere Read's Book, _Time and Sacrifice in the
Aztec Cosmos_.  In it she has the habit of referring to Tecuciztecatl as
Tecuiçiztecatl.  First of all the c-cedilla (ç) is not needed before the
-i- since the -c- will be soft.  But the other difference is the Tecuciz-,
versus Tecuiciz-   Dibble and Anderson consistently name the god
Tecuciztecatl.  In his book, _Myths of Ancient Mexico_ Graulich gives the
god the name of Tecciztecatl  and translates it as "He of the Conch
Shell"  I think that Read is looking at an underlying meaning by changing
the spelling to Tecuiciz-

Karttunen gives the following:
"Tecui:n(i) - for a fire to flare up or for one's heart to pound"

This clearly recalls the actions of Tecuciztecatl who along with
Nanahuatzin (Nanahuatl) cast themselves into the sacred fire at the
creation of the Fifth Sun.

The question then becomes,  What does Tecuciztecatl mean, as opposed to
Tecuiciztecatl?

There are lots of other threads to follow, but these are the ones which
come to mind.

J. F. Schwaller


John Frederick Schwaller                             schwallr at selway.umt.edu
Associate Provost                                        406-243-4722
The University of Montana                         FAX 406-243-5937
                  http://www.umt.edu/history/Nahuatl