wordplay in nahuatl

[Chichiltic Coyotl]

Niltze Sanchez

I don't see a double meaning. I believe there are actually two different
words. First there is tonaca meaning our flesh, meat. (Notice the lack of
long vowels.)The stems of this are to = our and nacatl = flesh, meat.

The other word is to:naca:yo:tl which means daily sustenance. It apparently
specifically refers to maize. There is no prefix meaning "our" in this
construction. I think the stems for this are to:na = to be warm, sunny i.e.
from which is derived to:nalli = warmth of the sun, day, Ca: a ligature and
Yo: a suffix that gives the sense of the english suffixes -ness, -hood,
-ship. Even though it's not a direct translation it appears to have the
concept of something abundant like agricultural produce, particularly maize.
Maize being the daily sustenance of the people.

Thus To:naca:te:uctli (I've changed the spelling) could mean
Abundance/Sustenance Lord.

Well, that's my theory anyway.

EZR




>From: SANCHEZ JOANNA M <js9211 at csc.albany.edu>
>To: nahuat-l at mrs.umn.edu
>Subject: wordplay in nahuatl
>Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 09:13:53 -0500 (EST)
>
>I recently posted a question about cases of wordplay in Nahuatl, and am
>still interested in getting opinions.  I'm talking about the type of
>double meanings that appear in words like Tonacatecuhtli-
>Burkhart argues for the "Our-flesh lord", while Lopez Austin would say
>that there is a deliberate double meaning created between nacatl and
>tonacatl, "sustenance."
>	Just wondering if anyone has any other interesting (or not)
>examples or ideas about this sort of thing.  Thanks- J. Sanchez
>


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