AZ: Child-sacrifice

[Matthew Montchalin]

Richard Haly wrote:
| As for modern people offended by this I believe that is mostly non-Nahuas.

It invariably occurs among those that have not been exposed to the concept
of the 'deodandum' --- heck, a word that isn't even in most English
dictionaries, but at least it is in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Now, stripped of its legalistic trappings (as a token of civil
forfeiture), the 'deodandum' was a representation of the extent of just
how much one rally loves and appreciates the thing being given up, and
how much one also appreciates the thing asked for.  (Gods do not indulge
them that offer trivialities for trivialities; great things demand great
prices.)

At least among the Ancient Romans they had a formulaic saying that went
with the 'deodandum' --- "do't des" (do ut des) --- "I give that thou
givest."  BTW, there was recently a great show on the Discovery Channel
about the sacrifices of (sometimes (?) stillborn) babies in Carthage,
and cemetaries dedicated just to these kinds of offerings...

Anyway, I am just starting to learn Nahuatl; forgive me for posting this
to the mailing list --- it would be a lot easier for all concerned if
there were a newsgroup in Usenet for questions like this, so advanced
people can skip past it...

Do or did they have a word for "deodandum?"  Would it be connected with
the verb mani (to give or lay out, Latin licet pandi) and teotl (god or
deity, Latin deus), perhaps with an adverb of location like nican (here,
Latin hic) joining in somehow?