malinche

[Juergen Stowasser]

"Malinche" is the spanish version of "Malintzin" who was given to Cortés as
"present" by a comunity in Tabasco; born in Cuatzacualco from where she was
sold as a slave in her childhood, she spoke Nahuatl and served the Spaniards
as interpreter and  counselor during the Conquista (she had also a
relationship with Cortés and was the mother of one of his sons, Don Martin
Cortés). Her role in the conquest has been a subject of scientific
discussions: some authors think of her as playing a key role in the fall of
Tenochtitlan (as Cortés depended totally from his indigenous allies like the
Tlaxcalteca or the Huexotzinca and led all his negotiations with them with
the help and interpretaion of Malintzin), others guess that her influence was
overvalued in some sources; however, some indigenous texts (e.g. the Anales
de Tlatelolco) dealing with the Conquista describe Cortés-Malintzin as a kind
of double-figure with one and the same speech. In nowadays México
"malinchismo" has become a synonymon for cultural or political treason.

                                                           ciao, juergen


ps: if You need more bibliographic informations, don´t hesitate to drop me
some lines.

glaucia schrieb:

> During my master work, I found the word "malinche". As I am not a nahuatl
> speaker, I am having problems to get the origin, meaning and use of the
> nahuatl word "malinche".
> Any help would be very useful.
>
> Thankfully:
>
> Glaucia Cristiani Montoro
> glaucia at obelix.unicamp.br
> Av. Orozimbo Maia 2090 ap 42
> 13023 - 001 Campinas - SP
> Brazil - tel: 55 19 - 252 1276

--
Juergen Stowasser
Burggasse 114/2/8
A-1070 Wien - Vien(n)a
Austria
tel: 01/ 524 54 60
0676/ 398 66 79