Name of creation god

[CCBtlevine at aol.com]

In a message dated Mon, 18 Dec 2000  1:21:25 PM Eastern Standard Time, "John
F. Schwaller" <schwallr at selway.umt.edu> writes:

Graulich gives the
god the name of Tecciztecatl  and translates it as "He of the Conch
Shell"  I think that Read is looking at an underlying meaning by changing
the spelling to Tecuiciz-

Karttunen gives the following:
"Tecui:n(i) - for a fire to flare up or for one's heart to pound"

This clearly recalls the actions of Tecuciztecatl who along with
Nanahuatzin (Nanahuatl) cast themselves into the sacred fire at the
creation of the Fifth Sun.

The question then becomes,  What does Tecuciztecatl mean, as opposed to
Tecuiciztecatl?

Reply:

As far as your comment is about Graulich, I recall reading somewhere, that
wearing of a conch shell was a kind of kenning meaning that the person wore a
hood.  So that the depiction of a person wearing a shell would be a way of
saying that the person wore a cape with a hood.

As far as Tecuiciztecatl.   Perhaps it has something to do with being the
lord of the dawn.  This is from tecuhtli and iciuh.

Tom Levine