Maxtlatl 'fox' as loan

[Gordon Whittaker]

Hi,

I think if a search of Mesoamerican languages is made one will find
similar forms with the meaning 'fox', suggesting that the term in dialect
Nahuatl is a borrowing from an unrelated language. I don't have my files
at hand but do recall that there is a similar Mixe-Zoque term, something
like wa'as, that could be related to the immediate source of the Nahuatl
word. Attempts at etymologizing the term in connection with a verb 'split'
seem to me very unlikely to yield anything of substance. Nevertheless, the
term may have converged phonetically on maxtla- 'loincloth' (given the
fact that w and m are phonetically related).

Good hunting!

Best,
Gordon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gordon Whittaker
Professor
Linguistische Anthropologie und Altamerikanistik
Seminar fuer Romanische Philologie
Universitaet Goettingen
Humboldtallee 19
37073 Goettingen
Germany
tel./fax (priv.): ++49-5594-89333
tel. (office): ++49-551-394188
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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