Cuaxochtli

[Michael McCafferty]

I'd like to propose that we turn around 180 degrees again and consider cuaxoch-
a **morpheme** meaning "boundary marker".

1) a "ditch" is not a boundary marker. what we are talking about here is more 
than like a stone...a series of stones....or just one stone. Not a ditch 
around a house. 

2) the cuauhuitl + xoch- suggestion can only be off the mark, given that the 
chroniclers were very careful about writing "u". In other words, we do not 
have anywhere "cuauhxochtli"...and we should have, if cuahuitl were the 
initial morpheme of this term.

3) If we cut this cuaxochtli into two parts, where one is cuaitl 'head', what 
is *xochtli? There is no *xochtli in the Florentine or Molina.

4) A two-syllable morpheme is certainly not uncommon for Nahuatl.

Michael


Quoting Yukitaka Inoue Okubo <takaio at PO.AIANET.NE.JP>:

> Thank you for many suggestions.
> I'd like to have just one question for John.
> "Axochtli" (for ditch) in Northern Veracruz is related to flower planting? 
> For example, there are many flower field, or sometimes they plant flowers 
> around their houses?
> It seems interesting to think if "xochtli" (of "axochtli") just refer to the
> 
> boundary without relating to flowers, or if it has something to do with 
> "flower".
> 
> Yukitaka
> takaio at po.aianet.ne.jp
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <idiez at MAC.COM>
> To: <NAHUAT-L at LISTS.UMN.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 7:12 AM
> Subject: Re: Cuaxochtli
> 
> 
> I asked my students today if they have heard of
> cua/cuauh-xochitl/xochtli/xochihtli. First they said "cuauhxochitl",
> "flor de árbol", but then someone came up with the word "axochtli". It
> contains the -xochtli portion given at the beginning of this
> discussion, which allows us to depart from "flower".  Anyway in
> Northern Veracruz "axochtli" is a canal where water flows: it can
> either be an irrigation ditch in a field, or the drainage ditch (only
> about 4 or 5 inches wide and maybe 2 inches deep) which runs along the
> side of a house. Now for speculation: both presumably run along the
> side of something (a field or a house) and thus might refer to a
> boundary. Now, how does "cuahuitl" fit into this?
> 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
> Celular: +52 (492) 544-5985
> idiez at mac.com
> www.idiez.org.mx
> 
> On Feb 17, 2006, at 2:58 PM, John F. Schwaller wrote:
> 
> > Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2006 12:06:48 -0800
> > Subject: Cuaxochtli
> > From: Karen Dakin <dakin at SERVIDOR.UNAM.MX>
> > To: <NAHUAT-L-request at LISTS.UMN.EDU>
> >
> >
> >
> > I remember hearing a discussion of cuaxochtli among ethnohistorians in
> > Mexico, and another possibility noted was that it is from cua-(witl) 
> > 'tree'
> > plus xoch- 'flower', because flowering trees were (and possibly still are)
> > boundary markers at times, since they are easily distinguished, at least
> > during the time they bloom.
> >
> > Karen Dakin
> >
> 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
> Celular: +52 (492) 544-5985
> idiez at mac.com
> www.idiez.org.mx
>