Translation of Tzompantli

[idiez at MAC.COM]

I get a laugh everytime I drive by the city crematorium in Zacatecas.
Somebody got the bright idea to put tzompantli in big letter across
the front of the building. One of these days I may go in and tell the
administrator, or then again, maybe I won't.
John

John Sullivan, Ph.D.
Profesor de lengua y cultura nahua
Unidad Académica de Idiomas
Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas
Director
Instituto de Docencia e Investigación Etnológica de Zacatecas, A.C.
Tacuba 152, int. 47
Centro Histórico
Zacatecas, Zac. 98000
México
Oficina: +52 (492) 925-3415
Fax: +52 (492) 925-3416
Domicilio: +52 (492) 768-6048
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idiez at mac.com
www.idiez.org.mx
On Jan 5, 2005, at 10:25 AM, Frances Karttunen wrote:

> On Jan 5, 2005, at 10:47 AM, Archaeology Institute wrote:
>
>>  During the course of my research I found diverse translations and
>> interpretations of the term "tzompantli."  For one, the term tends to
>> be
>> interpreted as "skull rack" in the most generic sense, whereas those
>> who have had occasion to translate the term more literally identify
>> its meaning with the translation of "skull banner" -- which appears to
>> constitute a gloss of tzontecomatl (skull
>> or gourd?) and pantli (banner).
>
>
> 'Banner' is pamitl.  It is one of those nouns which drops its stem i
> when the absolutive suffix -tl is absent, and when m comes into final
> position, it delabializes to -n.  This is why in possessed forms and
> some compounds, one finds the form pan.  There has been some
> back-formation from this pan stem, so you might find pantli meaning
> 'banner.'
>
> However, the second element in tzompantli is a different word, namely
> pantli, which means 'row' or 'wall.'
>
> The tzom- is the stem form of tzontli 'head of hair. In this case, the
> final n of the stem assimilates in labialization to the following p of
> pantli.
>
> There are plenty of representations of the tzompantli, so we know it
> was a rack of skulls, not scalps.  It appears that the tzom- in this
> case stands for the compound tzontecomatl literally 'scalp pot,' which
> is the Nahuatl word for skull.
>