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<DIV>Dear John,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Of course - I am confusing the preterite tense in different languages!
Thanks so much for clarifying things and for putting up with my highly inexpert
attempts. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Caroline</DIV>
<DIV>-----<BR>Dr. Caroline Dodds<BR>Junior Research Fellow<BR>Sidney Sussex
College <BR>Cambridge <BR>CB2 3HU</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tel: 01223 (3)30867<BR>Mob: 07740675610<BR><A
href="mailto:ced44@cam.ac.uk">ced44@cam.ac.uk</A><BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=idiez@MAC.COM href="mailto:idiez@MAC.COM">idiez@MAC.COM</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=NAHUAT-L@LISTS.UMN.EDU
href="mailto:NAHUAT-L@LISTS.UMN.EDU">NAHUAT-L@LISTS.UMN.EDU</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, February 24, 2006 1:01
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Tepotzoa</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Caroline,<BR>No, you wouldn`t translate it in the past. Nahuatl
uses three verb tenses, preterite, customary present, and future, to form what
are called agentive nouns. In other words, if I have sold things
(nitlanamacac), if I sell things everyday (nitlanamacani), or if I will sell
things (nitlanamacaz), I am a seller. So all three of these verbal forms can
at the same time be translated as the noun phrase "I am a seller or merchant".
<BR>The form you are interested in, -huah, comes from an ancient verb which is
no longer used as such. Therefore, when it is suffixed to a noun, the
resulting construction can only be translated as an agentive noun, "the owner
of....".<BR>There is an explanation of this in Lockhart's <I>Nahuatl as
Written</I>, on pp. 53-56, and 70-71.<BR>John<BR><BR>John Sullivan,
Ph.D.<BR>Profesor de lengua y cultura nahua<BR>Unidad Académica de
Idiomas<BR>Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas<BR>Director<BR>Instituto de
Docencia e Investigación Etnológica de Zacatecas, A.C.<BR>Tacuba 152, int.
47<BR>Centro Histórico<BR>Zacatecas, Zac. 98000<BR>México<BR>Oficina: +52
(492) 925-3415<BR>Fax: +52 (492) 925-3416<BR>Domicilio: +52 (492)
768-6048<BR>Celular: +52 (492)
544-5985<BR>idiez@mac.com<BR>www.idiez.org.mx<BR><BR>On Feb 24, 2006, at 4:02
AM, Caroline Dodds wrote:<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>John,<BR><BR>Thanks so much for the helpful clarification and
information. If you'll forgive me a rather simple question - if this is the
preterite form, might one translate tepotzoa as he/she/it 'had a back' or
'was covered with a back' (rather than 'HAS a back')?<BR><BR>Best wishes and
thanks again,<BR>Caroline<BR>-----<BR>Dr. Caroline Dodds<BR>Junior Research
Fellow<BR>Sidney Sussex College<BR>Cambridge<BR>CB2 3HU<BR><BR>Tel: 01223
(3)30867<BR>ced44@cam.ac.uk<BR><BR>----- Original Message ----- From:
<idiez@MAC.COM><BR>To: <NAHUAT-L@LISTS.UMN.EDU><BR>Sent:
Thursday, February 23, 2006 8:08 PM<BR>Subject: Re:
Tepotzoa<BR><BR><BR>Caroline,<BR>There are three possessor suffixes, -eh,
-huah, and -yoh, which are<BR>attached to nouns and mean, "owner of" that
noun. The last suffix,<BR>-yoh, extends the idea of owner to "to be covered
with" the noun. All<BR>three suffixes are actually the singular preterite
form of ancient<BR>verbs, and for that reason, the compound constructions,
such as<BR>tepotzhuah, owner of a back", can be considered preterite
agentive<BR>nouns. The plural forms of each suffix, -ehqueh, -huahqueh,
and<BR>-yohqueh, owners of...., are actually the plural preterite forms of
the<BR>ancient verbs.<BR>John<BR><BR>John Sullivan, Ph.D.<BR>Profesor de
lengua y cultura nahua<BR>Unidad Académica de Idiomas<BR>Universidad
Autónoma de Zacatecas<BR>Director<BR>Instituto de Docencia e Investigación
Etnológica de Zacatecas, A.C.<BR>Tacuba 152, int. 47<BR>Centro
Histórico<BR>Zacatecas, Zac. 98000<BR>México<BR>Oficina: +52 (492)
925-3415<BR>Fax: +52 (492) 925-3416<BR>Domicilio: +52 (492)
768-6048<BR>Celular: +52 (492)
544-5985<BR>idiez@mac.com<BR>www.idiez.org.mx<BR><BR><BR>On Feb 23, 2006, at
11:33 AM, Caroline Dodds wrote:<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Dear colleagues,<BR><BR>As a very occasional contributor but
frequent lurker, I was hoping that someone on the list might be able to
help me with the term 'tepotzoa'. I am writing an article about the
decapitation of women in sacrificial practice, and have become
increasingly interested in the word. It is used in the Florentine Codex
(The Ceremonies, p.105) to describe the practice by which the ixiptla of
Xilonen is sacrificed (by beheading) upon the back of a priest at the
festival of Uey tecuilhuitl. The text reads: "auh yn icujtlapan mjcoaia,
motocaiotia tepotzoa:". And the translation by Dibble and Anderson is
given as "And when there was dying upon his back, it was called "it has a
back". This makes it sound as if this is an official 'term' for this form
of sacrifice, and so it seems quite surprising that it does not appear in
relation to similar festivals (at Ochpaniztli for example).<BR><BR>I was
wondering if anyone had come across the term in other descriptions of
sacrificial ritual and also about the translation as 'it has a back'. Are
there other possible interpretations which might be placed on the term?
And does the sense which comes across in the term that perhaps it might be
almost a unifying of the priest and victim at the moment of sacrifice seem
a fair one?<BR><BR>I would also be delighted to hear of any articles etc
which deal with the subject of female decapitation (particularly in
ritual, rather than image, although the latter is also welcome). I have
obviously seen quite a few, but any suggestions would be very gratefully
received.<BR><BR>Best wishes and thank you for your
help.<BR>Caroline<BR>-----<BR>Dr. Caroline Dodds<BR>Junior Research
Fellow<BR>Sidney Sussex College<BR>Cambridge<BR>CB2 3HU<BR><BR>Tel: 01223
(3)30867<BR>ced44@cam.ac.uk<BR><BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>