Regarding Frye's analysis of Zacatlan

[Steffen Haurholm-Larsen]

As I was reading the message below which was a response to the "Coahuila"
discussion I could'nt help but notice the analysis of "zacatlan" as
consisting of "zacatl" and a supposed suffix "-an" to form the locative
expression of "the grass place" or "place of grass". In the analysis the
suffix "-an" is translated as "place".
I do belive, however, that this suffix does not exist in nahuatl, at least
not in that form. I think that the suffix in use here is "-tlan" meaning
originally "under" but tanking the meaning of "by" or "at"(Michel Launey:
1992, p. 219.) Then the analysis would be that by the derrivation the word
"zacatl" looses its indefinit suffix "-tl" and in stead is suffigated
"-tlan" to form the placename "Zacatlan".
It is the same suffix that appears in the placename of the Mexica capital
Tenochtitlan only in that particular case with the ligature "-ti-" between
the nominal root and the suffix.

My best regards
Steffen Haurholm- Larsen,
University of Copenhagen




>From: "Frye, David L" <dfrye at UMICH.EDU>
>Reply-To: Nahua language and culture discussion <NAHUAT-L at LISTS.UMN.EDU>
>To: NAHUAT-L at LISTS.UMN.EDU
>Subject: Re: Coahuila
>Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 15:02:08 -0400
>
>Ignacio Zaragoza was born in Bahia de Espiritu Santo in what was then
>the Mexican state of "Coahuila y Texas." The same year he was born,
>Bahia was renamed Goliad, and a few years later it became part of Texas.
>When Texas broke from Mexico, a big chunks of Coahuila and Tamaulipas
>(aka Nuevo Santander) were taken as part of Texas, but Goliad was always
>in the Texas part of "Coahuila y Texas." (The town is SE of San
>Antonio.) Ignacio Zaragoza grew up in Matamoros and then moved to
>Monterrey before going on to national prominence as a general.
>
>In response to an earlier message, -teco and -teca are alternative
>Spanish versions of the Nahuatl suffix -tecatl, which means "from (a
>place)." It is sort of like -an in English: Mexico, America > Mexican,
>American. It does not quite mean "people" in itself, but it is quite
>often used to create adjectives and nouns to describe the people from a
>given place.
>
>For example, "Zacatecas" is the Spanish plural of "Zacateca," from
>Nahuatl "Zacatecatl," which means "(people) from Zacatlan." Zacatlan in
>turn is zacatl (grass) + the suffix -an (place). So "Zacatecas" are the
>people from Zacatlan, the Place of Grass.
>
>Coahuilteco would most likely be from Coahuiltecatl, "(the people) from
>Coahuillan."
>
>It is worth mentioning that Nahuatl speakers gave names to places all
>over Mexico, Guatemala, and surrounding areas. The name Coahuila might
>come from Nahuatl, but that does not necessarily mean that the people in
>Coahuila spoke Nahuatl.

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