Cuates, Cholos, Sor Juana, Nahuatl in the early years

[melesan at pacbell.net]

Paul and all,

I only think the word cholo comes from Xolotl. It doesn't mean twin.  For my kids,
it is a gang kid.  In Peru and Chile it is a person usually of African descent.  A
Bolivian told me it means handsome or well off.  Sorry if I gave you the wrong
impression.  Again, take a look at Alfonso Caso's El Pueblo del Sol to explain the
origin of cuate.  I'll look for the exact quote from Caso for you.

Mel

Paul Anderson wrote:

> Mel Sanchez had been good enough to propose two Mexicanisms for "twin", and
> had asked the list if anyone could confirm what he thought to be the
> derivations ("cuate" from Quetzalcoatl; "cholo" from Xolotl). We're working on
> it. Here's what a friend in Mexico City has turned up so far...
>
> La verdad es que la palabra cuate la utilizamos para distinguir a los
> hermanos que se gestan al mismo tiempo en un vientre materno pero cada cual
> viene en su propia bolsa, porque fueron dos óvulos los fecundados en el
> mismo periodo por dos espermatozoides, pueden ser de sexo distinto y no son
> idénticos, a diferencia de los gemelos, twins, que vienen de  un mismo óvulo
> y por ello en la misma bolsa, son idénticos y del mismo sexo.
>
> melesan at pacbell.net wrote:
>
> > Paul,
> >
> > Use the mexicanismo for twin what my high school students in Santa Ana, Ca
> > use for twin:  cuate from coatl from Quetzalcoatl.  One of the aspects of
> > this diety was that he was the morning and evening star, Venus.  His twin
> > was Xolotl (from which I believe but will have to substantiate comes the
> > word cholo, used throughout Latin America).  See Alfonso Caso's El Pueblo
> > del Sol (The People of the Sun) for a more scholarly explanation.
> >
> > Would love to read any part of your novel beforehand.  Am a high school
> > teacher and we delve into Sor Juana and Mexica or Aztec culture in my high
> > school Spanish for Spanish Speakers courses.
> >
> > Mel Sanchez.
> >
> > Paul Anderson wrote:
> >
> > > Dear fellow subscribers to Nahuat-l:
> > >
> > > I’m a new subscriber and this is my first posting. I’ve had some initial
> > > difficulty accessing the archives, so am not sure whether it’s customary
> > > for newbies here to introduce themselves. As will quickly be apparent,
> > > I’m not a professional in the field of Nahuatl studies.
> > >
> > > I’m currently wrapping up my first novel, based in part on the life of
> > > Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and am delighted to be able to say that it
> > > has just been accepted by Random House of Canada. While in Mexico on a
> > > research trip in 1995, I had the great delight of speaking with Dr.
> > > Patrick Johannsen (sp.) at UNAM for a couple of hours about Sor Juana’s
> > > use of Nahuatl in her poetry.
> > >
> > > Did he, I asked, have any opinion on just how well she used or spoke the
> > > language?
> > >
> > > By sheer happenstance he was then completing a paper on the topic, and
> > > felt her usage to be highly sophisticated. This was consistent with some
> > > notions I’d been noodling with regarding her first 11 years of life in
> > > Nepantla and Panoyan. My publisher has asked for more from this period
> > > and I’m happy to try to oblige. It’s natural to suppose there were a
> > > number of Nahua speakers among the workers of both haciendas. I’ve come
> > > up with a Nahua-speaking wetnurse, whose daughter is Juana’s age, and
> > > her best friend.
> > >
> > > In one chapter I have her wetnurse and best friend teaching her Nahua
> > > proverbs during a long, bumpy ride by mule cart from Nepantla through
> > > Chimalhuacan and into Nepantla. I’ve been working with a few of the
> > > proverbs published in Thelma Sullivan’s _A Scattering of Jades_.
> > >
> > > If there were anyone out there willing to look over the chapter as a
> > > whole, I would of course be thrilled.
> > >
> > > In the meantime, I have so far a few words or phrases I’m looking for
> > > the Nahua equivalent of:
> > >
> > > “Yes, hurry up.”
> > > (Spoken, or rather parroted, impatiently by an imperious two-year-old
> > > (Juana) to a small group of Macehual fieldhands.)
> > >
> > > “Twins”
> > > I have “cocoa” for serpents, as in, perhaps, “dragon twins” but these
> > > two little girls fancy themselves twins also. Would “Cocoa” (pl.?) be
> > > something they might run through a courtyard shouting as the equivalent
> > > of: [we are] Twins! Mellisas! Cocoas!
> > >
> > > “Ixayac”
> > > I have this for “face”. It is a rock face, but the two girls call their
> > > secret place that because it looks like a human face or mask. (There has
> > > been discussion of masks already in the chapter.)
> > >
> > > I know how it is with long postings – the shorter, the easier to answer.
> > > So please feel free to weigh in with only one small bit.
> > >
> > > And please accept my heartfelt thanks in advance.
> > >
> > > Yours sincerely,
> > >
> > > Paul Anderson