Nahuatl Word Recognition I

[Mark David Morris]

I've been cheating, and I'm still confused.

On Mon, 26 Jul 1999, R. Joe Campbell wrote:

> Fran,
>
> On Mon, 26 Jul 1999, Frances Karttunen wrote:
>
> > >   tzoaztli
> > >
> > >1. what does it mean?
> >
> > I think it means a snare made with cord.
>
> *** Bingo!  (said by people who think the same thing and hope they're
> right too)

//////The two elements here are tzontli (hair) and hua:ztli (a fibrous
instrument), meaning an instrument of thin fibers, by practice then a
snare.


>
> > >2. *how* does it mean? (i.e., what are its meaning parts?)
> >
> > I only know it in derived forms.  And I think it's probably tzohuaztli.
> > Maybe the same -aztli as in teponaztli, etc.?  Which leaves us with the
> > tzo(hu)- part.
>
> ***I hadn't thought of "teponaztli", but *now* that you mention it, it's
> an attractive idea.  I think the suffix is "-hua:ztli" as in
> "tlahtolhuaztli" (throat) and "tlachpanhuaztli" (broom).  That /w/ deletes
> also in "tzo:tzopa:ztli" (weaver's tool).  And I believe that the stem is
> "tzontli" (the "-huaztli" instrument considered to be made of fibers).
>

////////tzo:tzopa:ztli is comprised of some inflected form of ihtzoma (to
sew) +
hua:ztli, and becomes a metaphor to combine with mah- hand to mean
forearm?

Regarding the mention of teponaztli, I am further confused by these
vocabulary items from the Florentine where -huaztli doesn't necessarily
have to be an instrument suffix

quetzalecacehuaztli. quetzal feather fan.
ayauhchicahuaztli. mist rattleboard


>    I thought the "tzoaztli" [tzoa:ztli] was a cute and puzzling item
> because of the double deletion.  First, the /w/ "hu" deletes the /n/ of
> "tzontli" -- /w/ and /y/ are both highly 'n-ivorous' -- and then the
> underlying /w/ is deleted (in many dialects) in "-owa-" sequences.

///////I thought you were getting at that -aztli was some kind of agentive
suffix that could combine with tzotl, but that's typical of me and
morphology. Finally, I could use some help breaking this one up too:

tenamaztli. hearth stone.


Thanks, Mark Morris



>
>
> > >3. is it ambiguous?
>
>
> >
> > No idea.
>
> *** I don't think it is.  I just brought it up ahead of time because of
> the second question I wanted to pose.
>
> [[Hi Al]]
>
> Joe
>
>
> >
> >
> > Fran
> >
> >
>