Idiomatic Expressions

[r. joe campbell]

Chichiltic Coyotzin,

   Since Nahuatl has the strategy of working with a relatively small set
of morphemes and combining them to satisfy the need for a considerably
larger set of words, it would seem that it is committed to "stretching"
the boundaries of the meanings of individual morphemes and their
combinations, so the kind of thing that you're talking about should be
frequent, not just a now-and-then occurrence.  Some of the opacity for us
is due to the fact that we face a different physical world, but, more
importantly, the fact that we organize it differently mentally and
linguistically.

   One of my favorite phrasal examples is "tlahtolli itlacual", 'he is
ill-tempered'.

   But with varying degrees of opacity, the combination of morphemes
within words causes problems for us outside-the-language-community
"participants".  "tepoztetlapa:nalo:ni", 'stone breaking hammer' was
undoubtedly transparent for a member of the language community because he
(I use the generic 'he' for 'he/she' or '(s)he') was familiar with the
following words:

  quitlapa:na     he breaks it
  tetlapa:na      he breaks stones
  tetlapa:nalo    people break stones
  tetlapa:nani    one who breaks stones
  tetlapa:nalo:ni instrument for breaking stones

Therefore, he would know that "tepoztetlapa:nalo:ni" is an instrument for
breaking stones made out of metal.  But *if* he didn't learn it or
perceive it analytically, he could learn it lexically -- what is that?
(seeing his neighbor breaking stones with a tool he had never seen before)
-- his older brother would reply: "It's a tepoztetlapa:nalo:ni,
xolopihtli".

   So the insiders didn't have to understand words and phrases
analytically -- however much we outsiders rely on the addition of meanings
of component morphemes.  I have frequently said "this word *must* make
additive sense -- I just don't know what the bridge is".

   I put a list of simple words below, but I would be interested in some
examples of the sort of phrases that you're talking about.

Joe

p.s. As I said, there is a range of opacity....


       acamahpilli             rod

       ahcolchimalli           shoulder bone

       calcuaitl               roof of a house

       calnacaztli             corner of a house

       cihuatlacamichin        sea siren, mermaid

       coahuitzmecatl          brambleberry

       cuacuahuitl             animal's horn

       cuametlapil             man with a large head

       icpatetl                ball of thread

       iztaxalli               grain of salt

       mahpilli                finger

       micomitl                quiver for arrows

       nacazcuitlatl           ear wax

       nextlexochtli           embers

       omixochitl              lily

       petlacalmecahuehuetl    spinet, stringed instrument with keys

       tepoztlalli             iron filings

       tlacamazatl             bestial man

       tlacatecolocihuatl      diabolical woman

       tlanomitl               ivory

       tlemoyonextli           dead spark

       tliltetl                paragraph mark, or a diacritic

       xicohcuitlaocotl        wax candle

       xocoicxitl              stem of a piece of fruit

       xocomecayacatzontli     tendril of a vineshoot

       xopilli                 toe

       yacacuitlatl            mucous

       yacatolli               mucous






On Thu, 17 Oct 2002, Chichiltic Coyotl wrote:

> Hi
>
> Is there a readily available list of nahuatl idiomatic and "slang"
> expressions? I'm coming across various expressions that do not make sense
> literally and the context in which they appear does not always give any
> hints as to their meanings. Sometimes I can find the expression in a grammar
> book or a dictionary but more often than not, I can't find any reference to
> them.
>
> Thanks
>
> CC
>
>
>
>
>
>
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