icnopilli / icnopilti

Mark David Morris mdmorris at indiana.edu
Thu May 17 21:32:49 UTC 2001


David,

What's lost in the glosses is the Mesoamerican (or at least Nahua) idea of
merit, and that is that you merit by suffering.  Hence, icno-tl while
meaning literally orphaned is used broadly to suggest merit and
compassion, e.g. icnoitta, consider with compassion.  Icnopilti suggests
not that one prospers by luck but by having paid one's dues in one way or
another.

best,
Mark Morris



















~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

La muerte tiene permiso a todo

MDM, PhD Candidate
Dept. of History, Indiana Univ.



More information about the Nahuat-l mailing list