tetzcohco

[Michael Mccafferty]

There is no indication that this place name is analyzable. The Texcoco
(including other variant spelling with x) is new, a Spanish neologism. The
original name of this place is <Tetzcohco>. Andrews parses this as
tetz-coh-co. -co is transparent, of course, but he does not offer an
analysis for the other two stems, and there is none in terms of the
morphology, grammar, and phonology of Nahuatl.  A greatly admired
historical linguist recently told me that it's important to understand
that there are always going to be loose ends in this business. <Tetzcohco>
appears to be a loose end. This is not to say that anyone with the
gumption to pursue this should not keep following the bunny paths through
the tangle of thorns, but, as it stands, there seems to be no tochtli
after all.

Michael McCafferty


On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 anthony.appleyard at umist.ac.uk wrote:

> <color><param>0000,0000,0000</param>On 17 Jun 2003, at 18:00, Galen Brokaw wrote:
>
> > ... the glyph is a pot and a flower on a rocky hill ...
>
>
> </color>This likely merely represents "te[tl]-xo:[chitl]-co[mitl]" or similar as
> an <color><param>0000,0000,0000</param>approximate phonetic rendering of the name.
>
>
> On Tue, 17 Jun 2003, Coon, Brad wrote:
>
>
> > Perhaps it represents a Nahuatlized version of a pre-existing (i.e.,
>
> > pre-Nahua speakers in the area) place name.
>
>
> </color>English examples are :-
>
> (1) Catterick in Yorkshire, which came not from Anglo-Saxon but
> from Celtic Katuraktonion = "(place of) battle ramparts"
>
> (2) York, which comes from Anglo-Saxon Eoforwic = "wild-boar
> diary-farm", adapted from Celtic Eborakon = "place of yew trees".
>
>
> <nofill>
>
>
>