Help with a Nahuatl word

[Campbell, R Joe]

Nocnihuan,

   I have a problem to present to the tribunal; actually, that's
overly modest -- I have more than a tzontli of problems, but for
now, I just brought:

  motlaxcaloa    tortillas are made  (book 11, Florentine Codex)

My problem is based on the fact that this word doesn't fit my
framework for thinking about word formation.  I think that there
are three apparent "verber" endings in -oa:

  1.  intransitive, formed by adding -oa to a noun stem:

        noun            verb            gloss

        ayacachtli      nayacachoa      I use a rattle
        camanalli       camanaloa       he makes jests
        caxitl          ticaxoah        we use a bowl
        quiquiztli      niquiquizoa     I sound a trumpet
        tamalli         titamaloa       you produce tamales
        teponaztli      titeponazoah    we play the teponaztli drum
        tlaxcalli       nitlaxcaloa     I produce tortillas

  2.  transitive, formed by changing intransitive -ihui or -ahui
      (which *may* be formed on nouns) to -oa:


        acalihui        it develops a groove
        nicacaloa       I groove it

        chichilihui     it turns red
        nitlachichiloa  I color something red

        ihtlacahui      it deteriorates, it suffers damage
        nitlahtlacoa    I damage something, I sin

        polihui         it vanishes, it perishes
        ticpoloa        you destroy it, you spend it

        tzetzelihui     it sifts, it drifts scattering (e.g., like snow)
        nitlatzetzeloa  I sift something

        xelihui         it splits
        nicxeloa        I split it


  3.  The third *apparent* -oa verber, which is normally spelled
with -oa, is really a masquerading -ohua.  The 'hu' (/w/) does not
contrast with its absence after /o/, so some dialects delete it and
others insert /w/ in /oa/ sequences to form [owa].

   I believe that all examples of (3) involve -hua added to '-yotl' with
an embedded noun.  I will spell the examples in the traditional
deceptive way (i.e., with '-oa'):


        acatl     acayotl      acayoa     to fill up with cane
        ahhuatl   ahhuayotl    ahhuayoa   to fill up with thorns
        atemitl   atenyotl     atenyoa    to become lousy
        azcatl    azcayotl     azcayoa    to become full of ants
        exotl     exoyotl      exoyoa     it forms a bean
        iztatl    iztayotl     iztayoa    for food to be salty
        teuhtli   teuhyotl     teuhyoa    to become dusty

Of course when the noun stem embedded in '-yotl' ends in 'l', the
result is 'll':

        ocuilin    ocuillotl    ocuilloa   to become wormy
        acelli     acellotl     acelloa    to become full of nits
        capolin    capollotl    capolloa   to produce cherries

***********************

So that's the background.  My problem is understanding how the
intransitive verb formation which is involved with 'tlaxcalli,
tamalli, and ayacachtli' can occur with the object prefix 'mo-'.
Here are all the examples I have found:

motamaloa. tamales are made.

momatlaxcaloa. it beats its wings together.

motlaxcaloa. tortillas are made.

momamatlaxcalohtiuh. it goes clapping its hands.
   (I hope everyone likes the metaphor as much as I do.)

mocuechayacachoa. it rattles its rattles.

**********************

I would appreciate any thoughts from anybody who is sitting around
the cracker barrel this summer,

Joe




_______________________________________________
Nahuatl mailing list
Nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
http://www.famsi.org/mailman/listinfo/nahuatl