The use of XIHUIT

[Frances Karttunen]

>From: John Sullivan <jsullivan at prodigy.net.mx>
>To: nahuat-l at server2.umt.edu
>Subject: Re: The use of XIHUIT
>Date: Tue, Sep 5, 2000, 10:14 AM
>

> Just for the heck of it, here are colores used by my informants in the
> Huasteca:
>
> chipawak, white
> yayawik, black
> chichiltik, red
> chokoxtik, brown
> tenextik, grey
> kostik, yellow
> chilkostik, orange
> azultik, blue
> xoxowik, green as in a mature green leaf
> axoxowik, green as in a deep body of water
> selxiwitl, green as in a new/young green leaf
>
> John Sullivan
> Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas
>
>

The words that end in -tik have by now been reanalyzed as adjectives on the
model of Spanish (witness the loan construction azultik), but their origin
is otherwise.

The verb-forming suffix -ti can be added to a noun to make a verb meaning
'to become (the noun)' or "to become like (the noun).'  Verbs formed with
-ti belong to the verb class that forms the preterite with -k (orthographic
-c in traditional spelling).

So tenextik is from tenextli 'lime' (literally stone-ash) and basically
means 'it has become like lime' (i.e., ashen gray).

chi:ltik and its reduplicated form chi:chi:ltik basically means 'it has
become like a chi:lli' (i.e., red).

chipa:huak isn't made with -ti.  It is directly from the verb chipa:hua and
literally means 'it has become pure.'

Look at all those lovely words for green.  Zacapoaxtla Nahuat shares with
Classical Nahuatl the word ma:tla:l-in meaning dark green, perceived as an
entirely different color from xiuh- 'blue-green.'

Fran