iyauhtli (fwd)

[Michael Mccafferty]

Dr. Karttunen has asked me to forward this message to the list.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 08:40:51 -0500
From: Frances Karttunen <karttu at nantucket.net>
To: Michael Mccafferty <mmccaffe at indiana.edu>
Subject: iyauhtli

According to Andrews and Hassig, whom I consider very reliable, yauhtli
(which is actually iya:uhtli) is Tagetes lucida, the Mexican sweet-scented
marigold (with its distinctive anise-like scent).

See p. 250 of A&H's translation of Ruiz de Alarcon's Treatise on the Heathen
Superstitions that Today Live Among the Indians Native to this New Spain
(University of Oklahoma Press).

Using R de A as a source is always painful, because he was a ruthless and
thorough inquisitor who hounded indigenous healers and practioners of
traditional Mesoamerican divination.  For that very reason he managed to
extract and record all sorts of information about herbal medicine and
everyday practices.

A&H's edition is not only a very fine translation, but it included indices
of ritual and supernatural names, names of medical practitioners mentioned
by R de A, medicinal plants and other substances, place-names, and
paraphrases of the incantations R de A recorded.

Fran