Translation of Tzompantli

[Frances Karttunen]

On Jan 5, 2005, at 10:47 AM, Archaeology Institute wrote:

>  During the course of my research I found diverse translations and
> interpretations of the term "tzompantli."  For one, the term tends to
> be
> interpreted as "skull rack" in the most generic sense, whereas those
> who have had occasion to translate the term more literally identify
> its meaning with the translation of "skull banner" -- which appears to
> constitute a gloss of tzontecomatl (skull
> or gourd?) and pantli (banner).


'Banner' is pamitl.  It is one of those nouns which drops its stem i
when the absolutive suffix -tl is absent, and when m comes into final
position, it delabializes to -n.  This is why in possessed forms and
some compounds, one finds the form pan.  There has been some
back-formation from this pan stem, so you might find pantli meaning
'banner.'

However, the second element in tzompantli is a different word, namely
pantli, which means 'row' or 'wall.'

The tzom- is the stem form of tzontli 'head of hair. In this case, the
final n of the stem assimilates in labialization to the following p of
pantli.

There are plenty of representations of the tzompantli, so we know it
was a rack of skulls, not scalps.  It appears that the tzom- in this
case stands for the compound tzontecomatl literally 'scalp pot,' which
is the Nahuatl word for skull.