is it zin or tzin??

[micc at home.com]

Frances,

it would be interesting to see if the Tlaxcalteca honorific methodology
of speaking to their elders has been transmitted to the modern Mexican
Spanish spoken in the area.

Frances Karttunen wrote:
>
> -tzin has two distinct meanings.  It has what I think was its basic meaning,
> which is an affectionate diminutive: 'dear little.'
>
> But a second, honorific use developed for -tzin.   So Teotl inantzin is
> 'God's reverend mother' rather than 'God's dear little mother.'
>
> The honorific use was and still is more geographically restricted than the
> affectionate diminutive.  Up in the Huasteca the honorific -tzin is
> restricted to religious terminology in Nahuatl that was introduced by
> Christian evangelists some time after the conquest.
>
> On the other hand, honorific -tzin for rulers and other influential people
> was in use in the central Nahuatl-speaking area when the Spanish arrived.
>
> By contrast with Nahuatl as spoken in the Huasteca, where honorifics are
> nearly absent, Nahuatl speakers of the Tlaxcala area developed and have
> retained an honorific system more complicated than that used by the Mexica
> of the central valley of Mexico.
>
> Polite speech (which involves more than adding -tzin to nouns) is so
> complicated that I can't imagine how anybody manages to speak properly to
> their elderly compadres.
>
> Fran Karttunen
> ----------
> >From: micc at home.com
> >To: Multiple recipients of list <nahuat-l at server.umt.edu>
> >Subject: Re: is it zin or tzin??
> >Date: Mon, Feb 7, 2000, 8:13 PM
> >
>
> > my understanding is that it means "revered, or honorable, not beloved.
> > Tla'zo would be love..... (i am not sure if there is a glottal stop in
> > there)
> >
> >
> > good luck!
> > mario www.aguila-blanca.com
> >
> > GESX1CKAH at aol.com wrote:
> >>
> >> I was told that if you add "zin" after a word that this meant beloved... for
> >> example if I used the name of earth, Tlalli and added zin to make Tlallizin
> >> as beloved earth... is this correct?
> >>
> >> thank you
> >> jess
> >