Tezcatlipoca as a metaphor in Ruiz de Alarcon's Treatise

[F. Elaine Anderson]

Piyalli
Baert,
Although Ruiz's Treatise is post-classical, it's certainly drawn from
indigenous sources [even if questionable/horrific because of the means used
to extract the information], and deals with the practical application of
these metaphors and symbols in a rural context. Andrews and Hassig write:

"There are two formulas involving *Tezcatl* that are used in this
work...*Tezcatl
in zan hualpopocatimani* ("Mirror that just lies smoking hither")...[and]...
*Tezcatl in iix zan hualpopocatimani* ("Mirror whose surface just lies
smoking hither")...The reference to the god *Tezcatl-Ihpopoca *("MIrror
that smokes") is implicit in these formulas, but the symbolic meaning is
'the land'."

*----Treatise on the Heathen Superstitions that Today Live Among the
Indians Native to This New Spain*, Ruiz de Alarcon, Trans/ed Andrews and
Hassig, 1984, p.336.

On p. 342, the translators mention that Ruiz believed it was a metaphor for
water, although they continue to hold with their own understanding of it.
If the verb popoca can convey the sense of "emitting mists" or "steaming"
rather than smoking [the noun *poctli*, according to Bierhorst, can refer
to mist or steam as well as smoke] then maybe both ideas are right -- land
where some misty water is "stretched out." [Now, to go from there to
understanding how that symbol of power worked in the incantations is
undoubtedly a bit much for those of us whose minds are boxed in by the
plastic paradigms of this inelegant "space age". But that's beyond a
discussion of linguistics...]

As Dr. Sullivan mentioned, the image of an obsidian mirror immediately
comes to mind. And especially in the second usage above, it's not much of a
stretch to visualize a pond of water in the night [Tezcatlipoca seems to be
sometimes associated with the night, no?], mists rising up out of it. Which
would appear to be an obsidian mirror "smoking." I'm not a Nahuatl scholar
- or a scholar of any kind - just someone who appreciates and respects the
language and culture, but I did try to analyze the name with that thought
in mind. I think I once ran it by Michael or Mr. Bierhorst who kindly
pointed out that it didn't work, I think because the modified form of a[tl]
morphs. But then again, if the word is Proto-Nahuatl ---- maybe somebody
would like to look into the possibilities or  maybe it will inspire some
other approach:
Tezca[tl] (mirror) + i (possessive) + poc[tli] (smoke, mist, steam) +
*a[tl] - His misty water is [like] a mirror.

Ma xonauiacan.
Elaine
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