For mature audiences (was: some doubts)

Mon Nov 15 14:39:53 UTC 1999

>Among speakers of the Zacapoaxtla dialect of general Aztec, a mazacoat
was a non venomous snake (a constrictor) that grew to be quite large.
Jim Taggart

 On Sun, 14 Nov 1999, Leonel Hermida wrote:
>
>> is 'mazacoatl' some kind of venomous snake?
>
>(Sorry about my funny double cross character for c cedilla)
>
>    The only references to "mazacoatl" that I found in the Florentine Codex=
>=20
>were the following:
>=20
>mazacoatl**
>=20
>1. no ihuan quiximati, in mitoa: *mazacoatl*,.
>      and also they knew of the so-called ma=87acoatl. (b.10 f.10
>     p.171).=20
>=20
>momazacoahuiani**
>=20
>2. in *momazacoahuiani*, intla elti, iciuhca mimiqui:.
>      he who partaketh of the ma=87acoatl, if aggressive, quickly
>     dieth. (b.6 f.10 p.126).=20
>
>*******
>
>    Molina reports only one entry for "mazacoatl" in each of his three
>dictionaries:  'serpent, snake', but I thought that I recalled another use
>-- an herb or something else that could ingested.  So I checked Martin de
>la Cruz, _Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis_ (given extra notoriety
>by the apparent rip-off of Emily Walcott Emmartt's edition of it by a
>person whose identity my discretion prevents me from mentioning).  --No
>result.=20
>    So I checked Maximino Martinez' _Catalogo de nombres vulgares y=20
>cientificos de plantas mexicanas_ with negative results too.  Negative also=
> on=20
>Louise Schoenhals' _A Spanish-English Glossary of Mexican Flora and Fauna i=
>n=20
>the plants section, but in the reptiles section, she gives it as 'boa=20
>constrictor'.
>    But I *still* thought I remembered an allusion to it as something like =
>an=20
>herb which could be ingested, so I went back to the Florentine Codex, where=
>,=20
>in Book 6, I found the following:
>   =20
>          Florentine Codex, Book 6, pp. 125-126  (end of this quote marked
>                                                  with ************)
>
>     1.  inin quil nepapacyo, cequi temeyalti in quitecualtia in quitetolol=
>tia,
>          in ahzo quiteitia cihuatlahueliloque in ahuianime, inic
>          tlaelpaquiznequi:
>       this, it is said, is pleasurable; one [kind] causeth one to
>          discharge one's fluid when the whores, the harlots cause
>          one to eat it, swallow it, or drink it to provoke lewdness.
>     =20
>     2.  inin ca teohuitili, auh nel micoani: ipampa ca tepatzcac,
>       this endangereth one; and it is very deadly because one is
>          dried up.
>     =20
>     3.  ca tlami in tezzo, in totlapallo, in tochiahuaca ca tayo
>          tlami, tlami in oxiotl, in ocotzoyotl:
>       for it useth up our blood, our color, our oils; it useth up
>          our moisture; it useth up the turpentine, the resin.
>     =20
>     4.  iuh mitoa in ***momazacohuahuia*** quixyeyecoa, zan ixquich qui,
>       so, it is said, he who partaketh of the ma=87acoatl is moderate,
>          drinketh it moderately.
>     =20
>     5.  in ahzo nahui, macuilli cihuatl quinamiquiz, manozo matlactli:
>       [if immoderate,] he will have carnal access to perhaps four,
>          five, perhaps ten women.
>     =20
>     6.  auh inin cihua, amo zan ceceppa in intech aci: ahzo quen
>          nanappa, mamacuilpa:
>       and to these women he hath access not only once with each one,
>          but four or five times with each one, more or less.
>     =20
>     7.  auh ayac huecahua
>       and no one endureth.
>     =20
>     8.  in momazacoahuiani, intla elti, iciuhca mimiqui:
>       he who partaketh of the ma=87acoatl, if aggressive, quickly dieth.
>     =20
>     9.  inic miqui huel huaaqui, huel malichahui, huel pilini, huel
>          quequetotztzitzin mochihua, ixmalichpipil:
>       as he dieth he becometh well dried up, veritably a little lock
>          of hair, having long tufts of hair, locks of hair on the
>          face.
>     =20
>     10.  ahzo quin piltontli, ac ace quexquichcahuitia, ahzo quin
>          achi quihualmana in tonatiuh ac ace tle quitoquilia in toteucyo,
>       perhaps he had been a mere child; perhaps he endureth for some
>          time; perhaps he continueth in the service of our lord.
>     =20
>     11.  ye cuele za ixhuehuenton, za mamalichpil, quequetzopil,
>          iztalecpil, yacacuitlapilopil, quechhuihuichpil: za pipilcac
>          in inacayo, iciuhca onmiqui.
>       eventually he is only little old eyes, only little locks of
>          hair, tufts of hair, very white, nasal mucus hanging, trembling
>          of neck; his flesh only hangeth in wrinkles; he quickly
>          dieth.
>
>     12.  huel ximopia nopiltze:
>       guard thyself well, o my son.
>     =20
>     13.  at aca itla mitzmaca in cualoni, in ihuani:
>       perhaps someone giveth thee something to be eaten, to be drunk.
>     =20
>     14.  intla itech tichicoyolloa, ma oc ye achto coni, ma oc ye
>          achto concua, in tlein mitzmaca:
>       if thou art suspicious of him, let him eat first, let him drink
>          first that which he giveth thee.
>     =20
>     15.  tle ticmati
>       pay attention.
>     =20
>     16.  xonmimattinemi in tlalticpac, ca oticcac in zan tlanepantlacayotl
>          monequi.
>       continue with caution on earth, for thou hast heard that moderation
>          is necessary."
>     =20
>************
>
>Footnote #6 on page 125 contains the following:
>    Ma=87acoatl: cf. Dibble and Anderson, _Florentine Codex_, Book XI,
>      "Earthly Things," p. 80.
>
>
>And on page 80 is the following text:
>
>
>***  1.  mazacohuatl:
>       ma=87acoatl
>     =20
>     2.  tepiton cuacuahue, catzactontli: amo tecuani, amo cueche:
>       it is small, horned, blackish; not poisonous; without rattles.
>     =20
>     3.  yehuatl inic momeyaltia in aquique cenca cihuanequini, zan
>          conichiqui in coni, zan imixtlama in ome ei cihuatl quinamiquiz
>       they who are much given to women, in order to produce semen,
>          just scrape and drink it [in water]; they just capture the
>          eye of two [or] three women they are about to meet.
>     =20
>     4.  in aquin ommotototza in coni, zan cen tlacuauhtilia, ihuan
>          zan cenquizticac in ixinach, ihuan yoyommiqui.
>       he who drinks too much continually erects his virile member
>          and constantly ejects his semen, and dies of lasciviousness.
>
>
>     =20
>***  5.  tlalmazacohuatl:
>       tlalma=87acoatl
>     =20
>     6.  in tonayan nemi,
>       it lives in the hot lands.
>     =20
>     7.  itoca: tzompilacahuaztli,
>       it is called tzompilacauaztli.
>     =20
>     8.  tliltontli, tzotlactontli, alactontli
>       it is small and black, small and glistening, slippery.
>     =20
>     9.  cacallo atecocollo.
>       it has a shell, a sea-shell.
>     =20
>     10.  inic mitoa tlalmazacohuatl: ca zan nohuian, in milpan nemi:
>          auh inic mazatl itech onca, ca cuacuauhtone.
>       it is called tlalma=87acoatl because it dwells everywhere in
>          the maize fields; and from deer, because it has small horns.
>     =20
>     11.  inin ihcuac neci in quiahui.
>       this one appears when it rains.
>     =20
>     12.  inic nenemi, in oncan quiza iuhquin tizaayotl, iuhquinma
>          tzauctli quinoquitiuh.
>       as it goes about, when it emerges, there it goes exuding as
>          it were a varnish liquid, like glue.
>     =20
>     13.  in aquin quiz i: intla miec qui, no yoyommiqui, ihuan ayotlami:
>       he who drinks this [in an infusion], if he drinks much of it,
>          also dies of lasciviousness, and his moisture ends.
>     =20
>     14.  ic miquiz, iccen ic cocolizquiz.
>       so he will die; he will finally sicken because of it.
>     =20
>
>So it wasn't an herb.  Thanks anyway, Emily and Maximino.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Joe

James M. Taggart
Lewis Audenreid Professor of History and Archaeology
Department of Anthropology
Franklin and Marshall College
Lancaster, PA 17604-3003
tel. 717-291-4038
J_Taggart at ACAD.FANDM.EDU