Words of Nahuatl Origin

[micc]

The cacao part appears to be a direct loan word from the maya....who
seemed to enjoy it amost as much as I do today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a8803917 wrote:
>
> chile comes from the nahuatl-word "chilli" (cf also "chiltic"=red) and
> chocolate - as i know - from "xocolatl" ("atl"=water and "xokolli"="sour
>
> fruit", both are also nahuatl words)
> concerning the etymology of "cacao"(cacaoatl in nahuatl) i was told in
> the nahua region of northern veracruz that the word derives from
> "cacahuatic"= "hueco al dentro", what would make certain sense of you
> think of the sound when you shake a cacao seed - but i´m not 100% sure
> in that and would be pleased to hear the opinion of a linguist to that
> question)
>
>                           saludos, juergen
>
> Jorge Perez de Lara schrieb:
>
> > A clarification concerning a listero's recent posting:
> >
> > >I am wondering if there is a list of english and/or spanish words
> > >that are strictly nahuatl in origin. I think chili and chocolate
> > >are two of the examples.
> >
> >   "Chili" is actually a mis-spelling of the word "chile" and
> > although this word probably has a Nahuatl origin, I am not
> > completely sure of it. The foodstuff that goes by this name is
> > not called "chile" in any other Spanish-speaking country outside
> > Mexico and parts of Central America, but instead is called "ají".
> >
> >   As for "chocolate", this word is only partially Nahuatl in
> > origin. The cacao (this word is probably an Mixe-Zoquean in
> > origin: "kakaw") drink consumed by the elites in a lot of
> > Mesoamerica was actually known as "cacauatl" (literally, cacao
> > water) among Nahuatl-speaking peoples at the time of the arrival
> > of the Spaniards. The word "chocolate" by which it became known
> > throughout the world was probably generated by mixing the Mayan
> > name for the beverage "chocol-ha" (hot water) and its Nahuatl
> > name, to produce the word "chocol-atl", which ultimately became
> > "chocolate" (the ubiquitous Nahuatl word "atl" was always turned
> > into "ate" -pronounced 'a-tay' in Spanish-). Sophie and Mike Coe,
> > in their wonderful 'The True History of Chocolate', posit that
> > the Spaniards did not like the idea of drinking a dark brown
> > beverage that went by the name of "caca...". Although this is an
> > amusing possibility to consider, the truth is that nobody knows
> > how they came to mix the Mayan and Nahuatl names for the beverage.
> >
> > Jorge Perez de Lara
> > Mexico
> >
> > jorgepl at infosel.net.mx
>
> --
> Juergen Stowasser
> Burggasse 114/2/8
> A-1070 Wien/Vien(n)a
> Austria