nezahualpilli

[Kevin P Smith]

Dear Paul,

Yes, Nezahualpilli (1463?-1515) was the son of Nezahualcoyotl. He ruled
Texcoco from the age of eight or nine until his death (some say
disappearance) at the age of 52.

The usual translation is "Fasting Prince" or "Hungry Prince" but I suspect
that, given the obvious metaphor, something like "Penitent Prince" might
be closer. This would seem to fit Tezcatlipoca, especially in his
manifestation as Telpochtli.

As to you third question, The Texcoca were allies of the Mexica, if at
times uncomfortable ones, until they sided with the Spanish against
Motecuhzoma several years after Nezahualpilli's death.

--
Kevin Paul Smith
ksmith at umail.ucsb.edu

On Tue, 19 Feb 2002, Paul Anderson wrote:

> In a very generous reply to an earlier query, one listmember provided me
> with a list of epithets for Tezcatlipoca, as the Enemy of Both sides
> (part of which I enclose below). I have no Nahuatl, but one epithet
> appears more than once:
> nezahualpilli.
>
> Two questions:
> 1) Am I correct in thinking that Nezahualpilli was also the name of the
> son (grandson?) of the Nezahualcoyotl?
> 2) If the latter means roughly 'fasting coyote' how might Nezahualpilli
> be translated?
>
> Leading, I suppose to a third: does it seem plausible that the stories
> of Nezahualpilli and Nezahualcoyotl going forth from Texcoco to
> challenge Moctezuma II and I respectively, have a mythic dimension ...
> with the Mexica figures in some sense acting as doubles for Quetzalcoatl
> / Tezcatlipoca?
>
>
>  ihuan quitocayotique, titlacahuan, ihuan yaotl, *necoc* yaotl,
>      moyocoya, nezahualpilli..
>       and they [also] named him titlacauan, and yaotl, necoc
>      yaotl, moyocoya, ne‡aualpilli. (b.1 f.4 p.67).
>