<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Hi, all.</span></font><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">I'm working on a piece dealing with the significance of colors in precontact Central Mexican religious contexts, and I have a question about the meaning of ma:tla:lin.</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'"><br></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 12px; ">Frances Karttunen follows Molina in defining matlalin as “the color dark green”: “This is attested in Z in matlalzahuatl (literally ‘green pox’) and possibly in Matlalpan, although the sense of the latter would be obcure from this gloss, which appears to have something to do with lowness of sature. Conceivably it is derived instead from tlalpan ‘on the ground'" (139).</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'"><br></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; font-size: 12px; ">But Dibble & Anderson translate matlalin as “blue” in the <i>Florentine</i>, which notes that "its name comes from nowhere. It is the blossom of an herb, a blossom. This matlalin is blue and a little herb-green. It is very sound, firm, good, of good appearance, fresh green. It is fresh green, very resh green. . . . / acan quizqui in itoca, xihuitl ixochyo, xochitl: inin matlali texotic, ihuan achi quiltic, cenca ixtlapalhui, ixchicactic, cualli, cualnezqui, celic, celic, celpatic. . . ." (11: 240). </span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">The Badianus Ms. cites matlalxochitl (presumably the xochitl referred to in the Florentine?) as an element in a treatment for "heat" in the eyes (pl. 14, p. 218). The footnote for matlalxochitl glosses the term as "blue flower" identifies the plant as "the dayflower, Commelina, of which a number of species are found on the Mexican plateau. A native variant Nahuatl name for it is matlaliztic. Hernández refers to several varieties of matlalxochitl (pp. 383-4), but none of the illustrations resembles Commelina; thus the name must have been applied to several flowers of blue color" (219-20).</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">So, two of these three sources relate matlalin to blue; I haven't followed up on Hernández yet. Are there other places I should look for more information on matlalin as blue or green? I realize that blue-green functioned as a range or spectrum in precontact Mesoamerica, but the discrepancy among these sources has piqued my curiosity.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Thanks,</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Molly</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br></span></font><div apple-content-edited="true"> <div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">----------------------------------------------------------</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Molly H. Bassett</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Assistant Professor, Mesoamerican Religions and Indigenous Traditions</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Department of Religious Studies</span></font></div><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Georgia State University</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">1137 34 Peachtree Street NW</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Atlanta, GA 30302</span></font></div></div></div></div></div></span></div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></div><br></div></body></html>