The heart of it

[Karen Dakin]

on 8/28/00 4:12 AM, Rmedinagarcia at aol.com at Rmedinagarcia at aol.com wrote:

> In Nahuatl theres seems to be a predilection for compound words.  Seeing this
> I wonder if there is a known relationship between yollotl (heart) and the
> suffix -yotl.  Once -yotl is added Thelma D. Sullivan states "the noun
> expresses a quality or attribute that is independen in meaning from that of
> the noun .  .  ." (Compendium of Nahuatl Grammar p. 18).  The Aztecs like
> many people believed the heart to represent the essence of the person.  For
> example toltecatl (the people) tolteca+yotl (the culture, the essence of the
> people).  Another example is nantli (mother) and nan+yotl (motherhood, the
> heart of being a mother or the essence of being a mother).  Do yollotl and
> -yotl have a similar meaning?
>
> Ricardo
>
Although by just looking at Nahuatl this would seem possible, if you look at
comparative Uto-Aztecan data, it seems doubtful that there is a relationship
between yo:llo:tl 'heart' and the -yo:-tl suffix.  The first seems to be
cognate with Uto-Aztecan *pe (e should be a barred i but I can't send it by
e-mail), and there is a lot of evidence that the -yo:-tl is a variant of the
-lo:-tl suffix conditioned by preceding old vowels (that have been lost in
Nahuatl). The -yo:-tl and its variants are, I believe, cognate with the
Tarahumara and Guarijio possessive -ra, as well as with Cora and Huichol
-ra'awe and Tepiman -da. There are a number of words from UA languages
besides both *pe / yo:llo:tl and the possessive -ra/-yo:- suffix that show
the same two sets of correspondences, so it is systematic to my eyes at
least.