xiuh-, "big"

[John Sullivan, Ph.D.]

Listeros,
	We are having an interesting discussion here in Zacatecas.  
Victoriano says that in Huastecan Nahuatl there is an augmentative  
prefix, xi:uh-, which can go on pretty much any noun. The "i" sounds  
long, so we assume it is. At first we were using nouns that begin  
with a consonant, so we couldn't tell if the final aspirated  
consonant of the prefix was -c, -h or -uh. But when used with nouns  
initiating in a vowel, the sound is still aspirated, so that  
eliminates the -c. And if the "i" is indeed long, that eliminates the  
-h. 	
	Son we have, for example:
xiuhelotl, "a big ear of corn" (see note below)
xiuhtlacatl, "a big man"
	And.... interestingly enough, xiuhtomatl, "tomato (the big variety)".
Has anybody seen this?
John

Nota tangencial: the /w/ in Huastecan Nahuatl is voiced at the  
beginning of a syllable, and devoiced at the end (here it sounds like  
an "h" (not rounded). An morpheme final -uh keeps it's pronunciation  
even if followed by another syllable beginning with a vowel. And it  
doesn't separate from the original morpheme to become the initial  
element of the following syllable. In other words the syllables are  
xiuh-e-lotl, not xi-hue-lotl.
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