[Aztlan] Calcos?Calque or Cuiloa (David Becraft)

[David Becraft]

Mr. Georges,

It appears I have created neologisms.  That was not my intention though, my 
intention was to find a word that best describes and defines the type of 
writing that existed in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.  Words such as 
Semasiography, Logography, and Phonetism do not completely define that type 
of writing.  Since Mesoamerican writing was a "mixed system", I am trying to 
find in either the primary sources or as a new "neologism" the correct 
concept to explain pre-Hispanic writing.

One cannot say that Mesoamerican writing was merely Logographic, nor purely 
Phonetic, nor purely Semasiographic; though Semasiography was at least 80% 
of the bulk (Wright 2004: Seminario de Codices).
Yes, the word "cuiloa" I was intent on using for the Greek term "graph(y)".  
But I was also trying to find a word that best represented the type of mixed 
system that existed.  My use of the word Nezcayotia, "to mean, denote, or 
indicate something" (Karttunen 1992: 172) was to hopefully serve the 
function of explaining what "we" call "mixed writing".  Of course, I doubt 
that Mesoamericans thought of their writing as "mixed" since this of course 
is a modern concept based on "Near Eastern" theories of writing.

By "Cotonqui" (Molina or Simeon; I don't have my dictionaries at the 
moment), it was meant to define a "fragment, division or small part" of a 
word.  I was told that "-tontli" was enough though.

Thank you for your comments.

David F. Becraft
Anthropology
Southern Oregon University
Ashland, Oregon
http://www.sou.edu/mcnair/scholars/becraft.html



>From: <lahunik.62 at skynet.be>
>To: "Aztlan" <aztlan at lists.famsi.org>
>Subject: [Aztlan] Calcos?Calque or Cuiloa (David Becraft)
>Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:11:37 +0200
>
>Pancho Villas
>
>I think that the words you have indicated are not exactly pure Nahuatl
>words, but like Galen Brokaw mentioned a sort of pure neologism.
>
>It is clearly visible that the words you have made are composed of 
>different
>Nahuatl words.
>
>Several times you have used the word "cuiloa", as a suffix, for the English
>"graphy".
>
>"cuiloa" or in fact "ihcuiloa" (acc.Sah), as a transitive verb, means: to
>write, to draw or to paint.
>
> >From all the words you have indicated, there is only 1 word usable:
>"Nezcayotl" (acc.Sah),
>
>what means: sign, token (Esp.:regalo, propina).
>
>What you really mean by "phoneme", I don't know, or is it phon(e)y (fals,
>faken).
>
>"Caqui" (acc.Sah) v.t.: to hear, to listen
>
>"Caquizti": it sounds good.
>
>"Caquiztiliztli": a sound.
>
>"Nenepilco" (acc.Sah): on the "nenepilli", a locative, on the tongue.
>(Esp.:lenqua).
>
>"Nenepilcuaitl": at the end of the tongue.
>
>What you mean by "Tlatol", and "cotonqu" I don't know.
>
>
>
>Lahun Ik 62
>
>Baert Georges
>
>Flanders Fields
>
>
>
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