Fwd(2): Re: About the word "teotl" and Ometeotl

[ANTHONY APPLEYARD]

Anthony Appleyard wrote:-
> Very many men have names which do not end in "-man".

Ramiro Medrano <Ramiro_Medrano at csumb.edu> wrote:
> Right, well, then, is there any reason why some "gods" have this
> suffix and some don't? Is it simply a name, or does the name carry
> with itself a form of higher reverence? 

E.g. Huehueteotl means "old-man god" and needs to be distinguished from
"an old man" in the ordinary sense; there is only one entity called
Huitzilopochtli and so there is no need to add "-teotl" to distinguish.

Anthony Appleyard wrote:-
> It is similar in Hinduism. Some say that all of their gods are
> aspects of one god, but others talk of separate gods.
> It is similar in Christianity with "3 or 1?": God and Jesus and the
> Holy Spirit: the mystery of the Trinity.

Ramiro Medrano <Ramiro_Medrano at csumb.edu> wrote:
> Well, then, by the same token, shouldn't Christianity be considered a
> religion of many gods?

I read about one Mexican woman who laid flowers on an image of
Coatlicue which had been found buried in Mexico City and that she said
that "We have _three acceptable Spanish gods_, but we would have
preferred to have been left with some of our own.".

Ramiro Medrano <Ramiro_Medrano at csumb.edu> wrote:
> I liked Mr. Berry's interpretation of teotl with the word "teomazatl"
> (meaning "horse") as a challenge to its meaning of "god". Surely the
> Mexica weren't as simple-minded to believe that an animal they had
> never before seen (but which resembles a deer) was a form of
deer-god.

[teomazatl] means "god-deer", i.e. likeliest "very strong and mighty
deer" or "deer sent by God or by the gods".

Citlalyani

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