'double' entries

[Richard Haly]

Greetings:

The "crescent moon duck" is probably a Golden Eye (or a Pintail) as it has a
crescent just in front of the eye. Pezotli is probably not coati since coati
is coati. Tzanatl is grackle.

Perhaps some of the ambiguity can be cleared up by noting the sources for
these, i.e. I'd trust the Florentine Codex more than something written to
teach vocabulary in the 1930s. Also, one must question things like "jackal"
(a European "understanding" of what a coyote is) since Mexico ain't Egypt
and also distinctions between Stork and Heron which Nahuas may have not
made. Same for "lizard" vs. "salamander." At issue is categorization:
Western vs. Nahua. As westerners had different uses for animals (they
weren't tonalli and ancestors) the division into what is what is
correspondingly different. Moreover, there is also the issue of place, as
different places will have different names for fauna. Sierra Norte de Puebla
bird names do not - in the main - fit those of the Valley of Mexico. Same
goes for flora. Having been taught a bit of indigenous uses of plants in
Mexico, I was amused to find that the same plants in Ecuador had completely
different uses.

My earlier comments per names of planets are germane here for plants. Things
are local in the world and they are also local in sources.


Hope this helps,

Richard
> atapalcatl = atoncuepotli (1) = ruddy duck
> ateponaztli = atoncuepotli (2) = American bittern
>
> atotolin (1) = American bittern
> atotolin (2) = American white pelican
>
> txanatl (1) = thrush
> txanatl (2) = grackle, slender-billed grackle
>
> tlalcoyotl (1) = jackal which hides underground and digs
> tlalcoyotl (2) = badger
>
> pezohtli (1) = badger
> pezotli (no -h-)(2) = coati
>
> aztatl (1) = stork
> aztatl (2) = heron
>
> metzcanauhtli(1) = '(crescent) moon-duck' (maybe the same as following?)
> metzcanauhtli (2) = blue-winged teal
>
> axoquen (1) = a white bird
> axoquen (2) = little blue heron
>
> tapayaxin(1) = a lizard (perhaps said loosely of a salamander?)
> tapayaxin(2) = salamander
>
> L.
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