Query: Nahuatl for "Venus"

Michael Mccafferty mmccaffe at indiana.edu
Fri Dec 1 15:20:01 UTC 2000


This sounds good. Was morning Venus also referred as quelzalcoatl?



On Thu, 30 Nov 2000, mario wrote:

> in the mesoamerican belief system of my ancestors, Venus had two names reflecting its two
> aspects.
>
> In the Nahuatl speaking world, Venus as the morning star was known as
> TLAHUIZCALPANTEKWTLI":  I believe from Tlahuiz(tli) "light, dawn"  +  cal(li)  house +
>  Pan(tli) wall + tekwtli (more commonly written as tecutli or teuctli, both of which do
> an injustice to the "kw" sound, which is pronounced at the same time)  "The lord of the
> house of the wall of light" or the lord of the house of dawn.
>
> Venus as the evening star was known as "Xolotl" which is either "young page" or "Monster"
>
> I think that the difference in meaning is probably due to vowel length difference.
>
> I lent my trusty Analytical dictionary of Nahuatl by Frances Karttunen, to my son at
> UCLA, so I am lost as to the finer points of these definitions.
>
> I am sure someone more enlightened than myself can fill in the correct facts to this
> humble
> offering.
>
> Good luck to you!!!
>
> mario e. aguilar
> www.aguila.blanca.com
>
> Heather Hess wrote:
>
> > Hi!  I actually remember seeing a reference of Venus in Nahuatl and can't
> > remember where but this sounds familiar!  Yolohtzin
> >
> > >From: David Gloster <david.gloster at muenchen.roses.de>
> > >Reply-To: nahuat-l at server2.umt.edu
> > >To: nahuat-l at server2.umt.edu
> > >Subject: Re: Query: Nahuatl for "Venus"
> > >Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 22:33:16 +0100
> > >
> > >As no one else has yet come forth with an answer, here's my try:
> > >
> > >I seem to remember that Venus had two names in Nahuatl depending on whether
> > >it was
> > >visible as the morning star or the evening star. I think the morning name
> > >was
> > >TLAHUIZCALPANTEUCTLI but I've no way of checking it. Maybe someone with a
> > >dictionary at
> > >hand could look it up and confirm. I'm afraid I can't help you with the
> > >evening version,
> > >though.
> > >
> > >Best of luck
> > >David Gloster
> > >
> > >
> > >Heather Hess wrote:
> > >
> > > > Frances and Listeros:  Could you please give the Nahuatl (and spanish)
> > >word
> > > > for Venus.  Thanks!  Yolohtzin
> > >
> > >
> >
> > _____________________________________________________________________________________
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>
>


Michael McCafferty
307 Memorial Hall
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
47405
mmccaffe at indiana.edu

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"So, who you gonna believe,
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              -Chico Marx

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