Tula vs. Teotihuacan

[Ian Robertson]

Hello all,

Some years ago I wrote up the following brief note on the meaning of 
Teotihuacan--as I understood it. I would be happy to hear other ideas or 
suggestions.

Best,

Ian Robertson

+++++++++++++++++
A variety of more and less implausible translations have been suggested 
for /teotihuacan/, including ‘place of worship,’ ‘abode of the Gods,’ 
‘the place where men became Gods,’ and the ‘place of those who have the 
road of the Gods’ (see Millon 1992:359). The translation I favour (‘the 
place where divinity comes into being’) is based on identifying the 
following elements: *teoti* <denominal verb “to become divine”, “to 
become a god”>; *–hua* <impersonal suffix>; and *–can* <locative noun 
“place where”> (see Launey 1992:135 ff., 225). Andrews (2003:498) has 
recently translated the word as ‘at the place of the owners of the Elder 
Gods’. This intriguing translation may conceivably make better sense of 
the observed locative *–can* (the locative –*yan* might be expected 
after the impersonal verbstem /teotihua/*–* that I posit) but this 
reading also requires restoring a glottal stop in the position 
immediately preceding—/teotihuahcan/ instead of /teotihuacan/.

Andrews, J. Richard
2003 /Introduction to Classical Nahuatl/. Revised Ed. University of 
Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Launey, Michel
1992 /Introducción a la Lengua y a la Literatura Náhuatl/. Instituto de 
Investigaciones Antropológicas, UNAM, México, D. F.

Millon, René
1992 Teotihuacan Studies: From 1950 to 1990 and Beyond/./ In /Art, 
Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan/, edited by J. C. Berlo, pp. 
339-429. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
+++++++++++++++++

John Sullivan, Ph.D. wrote:
> Joe,
>  So it looks like this is the impersonal form of "teoti", "he/she/it becomes or becomes like a god". A better translation of "teotihua" would be "god-becoming happens". I don't have a grammar with me, and I'm trying to think, are there other place names built on the preterite of the impersonal form of a verb? And, can the preterite of the impersonal form of a verb be interpreted as a noun? 
> John
>
> On Friday, December 01, 2006, at 07:13PM, "Campbell,  R Joe" <campbel at indiana.edu> wrote:
>   
>> John,
>>
>>    This is the only place in the Florentine Codex that "teotihua-" occurs.
>> Due to my not total eptness with Windows (thanks a lot, Bill), I am 
>> including below the fragment of text and I will send comments in a 
>> separate message.
>>
>> Iztayohmeh,
>>
>> Joe
>>
>>
>>     
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