Hippocrene dictionary

[jrabasa at SOCRATES.BERKELEY.EDU]

The European production of words in the sixteenth century to name and
describe American things and people led to phenomena not unlike "it
is a metal corncob."  Read, for example, Oviedo's entry on the
pineapple, la piña, in the HISTORIA NATURAL DE LAS INDIAS (ca 1547)
and you will find an alternation between "piña" as in pine cones and
"alcarchofa."  The description of flavor bursts into tutti-frutti.
The coining of new words need not be transparent at first. The
principle should be that Nahuatl is an incredibly resourceful and
elegant language that can invent terms for the most contemporary
objects.

>ouch, how annoying. I absolutely agree on that !
>This kind of vocabulary must be clearly defined and taught as an
>attempt to create a wider range of vocabulary for new things and not
>as common used words. That`s a good example of how languages should
>not be taught.
>
>micc2 <micc2 at COX.NET> wrote:
>
>Tlazcamati for your words Stephanie,
>
>I just think that we should be careful of creating words that will never
>be used by the "common folk" It is easy to create words that will
>serve no purpose
>except to show how adroit a person is at manipulating a language.
>
>especially when beginners like me are taught these "new words" as
>canonical words that imply wide usage, we might end up alking nonsense
>to native speakers who might look at us with bemusement.
>
>Many years ago a "nahuatl teacher" told me that to say "tren" (train)
>you said: tepuztelollotl. I said this word once to another Nahuatl
>speaker, one who did not
>put himself out there as a "maestro" and she said I had just said "
>it is a metal corncob"......hmmmm......
>
>
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