trying to find the word for...

[Frances Karttunen]

> Frances,
> 
> This is a very interesting analysis, especially for me since i am trying
> to find the root of macehauliztli, the dance ( as opposed to the more
> common understood mi'totiliztli and netotiliztli)
>
>
> Last year (or was it the year before) I hypothesized that mi'totia came
> from  i'toa, but I was proven wrong.  Can you tell me what you believe
> is the root of macehua (dancar in Molina) .
>

Sorry, but I have no idea.  It was J. Richard Andrews in his "Introduction
to Classical Nahuatl" who wrote about the "hand-resting" dance as a source
for ma:ce:hualli 'subject, commoner.'  Because Molina doesn't indicate vowel
length or saltillo, it's impossible to know whether the verb about dancing
is the same or different from the verb about deserving or the noun about
being a subject without additional information from other sources.  I don't
know where Andrews got such additional information (or if he did).