quetzalteueyac

[Anthony Appleyard]

    War14655 at aol.com wrote:-
  > I've been told by Mexicah elders that the word means "beautiful" and
  > "precious" and after all it's their language so



Quetzal feathers were traditionally precious, so over time the word went
through the same sort of meaning extensions as "gold(en)" has in English from
merely the metal to "valuable, good, the best" and suchlike.



  > regardless of what the old colonial texts want to assert,
  > ultimately today's speakers determine what the word means.



If so, then presumably the rightness of using {quetzal} as "precious" depends
on whether the author wants to write in present-day spoken Nahuatl or in
Moteuczomah period classical Tenochtitlanian Nahuatl. Same as e.g. {hagiazo:}
= "I sanctify" is correct New Testament Greek but not correct Homeric Greek.



(Off-topic PS: what is the current status re endangeredness etc of the quetzal
bird, anyway? Are they bred in captivity?)



Citlalya:ni

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