chichimeca (false etymology/mnemonic/rude joke)

[Pablo Garcia]

Listeros,


Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl goes on about the chichimeca, from 
which he could claim descent through his great-great-great grandfather, 
Nezahualcoyotl. In the _Historia de la nacion chichimeca_ he says that 
the term chichimeca does not mean, as some think, the "mamones" but the 
eagles and that the word is not Nahuatl.
On the other hand, he traces the chichimeca nation back to the Gran 
Chichimeca Xolotl, whose name-glyph in the Codice Xolotl is a dog head 
-- and apparently the god Xolotl, a messenger, was often represented as 
a dog. So, perhaps, Chichimeca, does relate to the dog lineage --the 
line of Xolotl-- but not necessarily in disparaging terms. At least not 
originally, and certainly not in don Fernando's view ---he may or may 
not be right about the etymology of the word, but there is no doubt 
about his views about the chichimeca people.


Saludos,
Pablo

Pablo García
Assistant Professor
Modern Languages & Literatures
Saint Anselm College
Manchester, NH 03102
PGarcia at Anselm.Edu


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