Zempaz úchitl

[Corrinne Burns]

Dear Maria,

Sorry I don't speak Spanish but I read your email by
using a translator. 

Just to add a little to what Galen said, if it helps: 
Cempoalxochitl (Tagetes erecta) seems to be also
referred to as Centzonxochitl (400 flower)
occasionally. Sahagun says cempoalxochitl can be male
or female; the male is smaller with only 1 flower, the
female is larger.He says there are many kinds of
cempoalxochitl. It is related to the Macuilxochitl ("5
flower"), Tagetes canulata, described by Sahagun as
the colour of yellow ochre. Interestingly
Macuilxochitl is also the name of an Aztec god. He was
the male aspect of Xochiquetzal, who was the goddess
of flowers and death and is usually depicted with a
bouquet of cempoalxochitl.

Cempoalxochitl and macuilxochitl are in the same
family as Yauhltli, the cloud plant (Tagetes lucida).
Sahagun knew this as he says in the Florentine Codex
that yauhtli is "like the tepecemopoalxochitl herb".
("Tepe" means "hill"). 

I hope this is of some interest. I am studying for my
Masters degree in Tagetes species as used in Mexico
both now and in the past. I'd be interested to hear
about your Tagetes work.


I hope you can read this! If not you can use the
translator that I used to read your email: 

http://www.freetranslation.com/

although it doesn't understand grammar very well and
the results can be quite amusing.

All the best

¡Espero que usted pueda leer esto! Si no usted puede
utilizar al traductor que utilicé para leer su correo
electrónico:

http://www.freetranslation.com/

Aunque no entienda la gramática muy bien y los
resultados pueden estar divertiendo bastante. 

Todo el mejor

Corrinne

--- Galen Brokaw <brokaw at BUFFALO.EDU> wrote:

> Zempazuchitl o zempaxuchitl es una version de la
> palabra cempoalxochitl 
> que aparece en el Codice florentino. Cempoalli
> quiere "cuenta completa" 
> o "veinte" y "xochitl" es "flor." Se refiere a
> tagetes erecta y parece 
> que algunos la llaman "flor de los veinte petalos."
> Sahagun las describe 
> como amarillas y hermosas. Quizas por eso se asocia
> tambien con el sol y 
> el oro.
> 
> Galen
> 
> 
> Maria Bolivar wrote:
> > ¿Me dicen la etimología de Zempaxúchitl? También
> si saben algo de cómo
> > evoluciona esta palabra.
> > 
> > Entiendo que quiere decir flor de sol o flor de
> oro.
> > 
> > María Dolores Bolívar 
> > 
> > 
> 





		
___________________________________________________________ 
How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday 
snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://uk.photos.yahoo.com