Yaocihuatl

[Jesse Lovegren]

My dictionary (Wimmer) cites the following passage and translation
(Anderson's?) from the Florentine codex,
" in ihcuâc nemiya tlâlticpac, yâôyôtl quiyolitiâya, yehhuâtl quiyôlîtiâya
in teuhtli, in tlazolli, cococ, teopouhqui têpan quichîhuaya, têtzalan
tênepantla, moquetzaya: îpampa in, motênêhua necoc yâôtl "

when he walked upon the earth he quickened war; he quickened vice, filth; he
brought anguish, affliction to men; he brought discord among men, wherefore
he was called 'the enemy on both sides'. Sah1,69.

yaoyotl, with the abstract noun suffix -yotl, is translated as war.
yaotl itself is translated as enemy.

On that, Kartunen's dictionary notes: "In compounds Ya:o: also means 'war,
battle,' but as a free form 'war' is ya:o:yo:-tl, contrasting with ya:o:tl,
'enemy.' "

My dictionary has the following entry for yaotl:  "1. ennemi; combat,
guerre.  /   ennemi; combat, guerre.    /   titre divin, s'adresse plus
particulièrement à Tezcatlipoca. Cf. aussi Yâôtzin.   /   semble également
avoir le sens de meu[r]trier."


In the case of yaocihuatl, we have a compounded noun whose root is cihuatl.
 The prefixed noun in a compound noun or verb can modify its root in
unfamiliar and abstract ways, as in

pitzotlahtoa: = PIG-SPEAK, 'to speak in a crude manner'
teo:cuitlatl = GOD-EXCREMENT, 'precious metal'
yaochichihua = WAR-CARE, 'dress for battle'

tlatolyaotl is a compound noun with yaotl as its root, modified by
tlatol(li), 'speech,' so it could also be translated less succinctly as
'cold war.'

The translator in the case of yaocihuatl should have plenty enough latitude
to use both renderings.

Yours,

On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 7:02 AM, Dodds Pennock, Dr C.E. <
ced22 at leicester.ac.uk> wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
>
> I am currently writing an article on the 'Women of Discord' in Aztec
> history and would be grateful for your help in interpreting the name of the
> goddess 'Yaocihuatl'. It is most often translated as 'War/Warrior Woman',
> but Susan Gillespie, in 'The Aztec Kings' translates the term as 'War Woman'
> on p.59 and as 'Woman of Discord' on p.213. The former translation seems the
> most obvious, although there are obviously linguistic roots with the term
> 'tlatolyaotl' (translated as 'discord' in the Florentine Codex). I'd be very
> grateful for any thoughts colleagues can offer on the translation or
> interpretation of this name.
>
> Many thanks,
> Caroline
> -------
> Dr Caroline Dodds Pennock
> Lecturer in Early Modern History
> School of Historical Studies
> University of Leicester
> University Road
> Leicester
> LE1 7RH
>
> email: ced22 at le.ac.uk
> http://www.le.ac.uk/history/people/ced22.html
> _______________________________________________
> Nahuatl mailing list
> Nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
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>
>


-- 
Jesse Lovegren
Department of Linguistics
645 Baldy Hall
office +1 716 645 0136
cell +1 512 584 5468
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