sardonic nicknames

[Ernesto Herrera L.]

'Bello' means 'beautiful'. It is 'Vello' that means 'Hair', although it
expressely excludes the meaning of 'head hair', referring instead to facial,
body, even pubic, hair.



-----Mensaje original-----
De: owner-nahuat-l at mrs.umn.edu [mailto:owner-nahuat-l at mrs.umn.edu]En
nombre de Mark David Morris
Enviado el: Thursday, March 14, 2002 03:48
Para: Kevin P Smith
CC: nahuat-l at mrs.umn.edu
Asunto: Re: sardonic nicknames


Kevin,

Lockhart also included his discussion of sardonic Nahuatl names in his
_Nahuas After the Conquest_.  After living and studying in Tlaxcala for
the past three years, I still don't have a firm enough opinion on the
subject to make useful comment about what was the intent of that type of
name.  I would like to point out, however, that Lockhart misread
Maxixcatzin as that it is composed of Maxatl or Maxtli, Ichcatl, Catl and
Tzin and refers to that dynasty's (with origins in Cholula) control of
Ocotelulco's profitable trade in cotton and other goods on the Tabasco
road.  Vulgar word play in names is, nonetheless, very present.  Today a
young student asked me about his last name, Cuatecontzin -- Wooden head
and a good part of Tlalcuapan shares the last name Bello that forty years
ago was Tzontimatzin - Hairy Hand, that they changed to Pelo, i.e. Bello.

best,
Mark Morris



















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La muerte tiene permiso a todo

MDM, PhD Candidate
Dept. of History, Indiana Univ.