"Gay" in Nahuatl?

Tue May 6 04:49:47 UTC 2014

Hola Ximena,

Cihuayolotl may mean woman's heart or female heart. In Spanish: corazón de mujer o corazón femenino. Maybe your  teacher referred to “cihuayotl” which means femininity or “what is typical of a woman” (Spanish: femineidad; “lo de la mujer”).

There is another possibility: that your teacher was speaking metaphorically (I do not know if pejoratively or not); if it is the case, the meaning of “cihuayolotl” may be: “the one who being man has the heart of a woman”. Here, we could also make use of the possessive : cihuayoleh (the one who has a female heart).

The example can be extended in Cuetzalan-Nahuat: 

“Cihuayoleh” referred to a man “could” mean “homosexual”, but its first meaning is “a sensible man”.  “Oquichyoleh” (“who has a male heart”) “could” mean “lesbian”, but principally: “a strong woman”. 

 Saludos/regards 

Tomas Amaya

Date: Mon, 5 May 2014 22:27:14 -0500
Subject: Re: [Nahuat-l] "Gay" in Nahuatl?
From: ximena.gutierrez at comunidad.unam.mx
To: t.amaya at eninfinitum.com
CC: magnuspharao at gmail.com; nahuatl at lists.famsi.org

I heard that the word is "cihuayolotl". This was said to me by a nahuatl teacher from CELE UNAM, Mexico. He's a native speaker from Texcoco. 

Regards,

Ximena Gutierrez

On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 4:41 PM, Tomas Amaya <t.amaya at eninfinitum.com> wrote:

Hi Magnus, neic tohuampohuan!

The word CUILONI is used in Cuetzalan (pronounced “cuilonh”, plural: “cuilo’meh”) to design men and women with gay sexual preference.
It can be used pejoratively or in neutral form.
Examples:
1         Ahmo xicuilon, xe ahmo oncah cihuameh?  (Do not be homosexual, are there no women?)
2         Xe ticuilon? Nehhua no. (Are you homosexual? Me too).
3         Ahmo quinequi monamictiz ýn Pancho, in cuilon ýn cuitazoquit (Pancho does not want to get married, this son of a … is an homosexual!)
4         Yn tocuiloncayouh, ahmo zan cualli in mocelia nican (Our homosexuality is usually not (well) accepted here.

Greetings
Tomas

> Date: Sat, 3 May 2014 11:21:29 -0500
> From: magnuspharao at gmail.com
> To: nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
> Subject: [Nahuat-l] "Gay" in Nahuatl?

>
> Hi Listeros
>
> I was just reading a brochure in Nahuatl published by CONAPRED Mexicos
> national commission for the prevention of discrimination. In this
> translation it describes the right not to be discriminated for ones
> sexuality with the word "cuiloni" and "cuiloncayotl". According to Molina
> this word meant "puto que padece", likely in reference to the passive,
> receptive or "effeminate" partner in a male/male sexual relation. first of
> all it struck me as an odd choice of word to describe homosexuality in a
> human rights context, and secondly I thought that I have never heard this
> word used in contemporary Nahuatl. (Here is a link to the brochure for
> those interested
> http://www.conapred.org.mx/userfiles/files/Enadis-2010-Nahuatl-Web_INACCSS.pdf)
>
> For this reason I thought I would ask you about which Nahuatl words you
> know for the different types of non-normative sexual identities, gay,
> homosexual, bisexual, transvestite, transgendered etc. and how they are
> used. I'd be happy to know for each term where it is used (community and
> region), whether it is used pejoratively or neutrally (do anyone
> selfidentify with it) and if you have any examples of how it might be used
> that would be excellent. I am thinking of collating the results into a blog
> post.
>
> Thanks beforehand!
>
> Magnus
>
>
> --
> Magnus Pharao Hansen
> PhD. candidate
> Department of Anthropology
>
> Brown University
> 128 Hope St.
> Providence, RI 02906
>
> *magnus_pharao_hansen at brown.edu <magnus_pharao_hansen at brown.edu>*
> US: 001 401 651 8413
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