On a:l- as in a:ltepe:tl: sources; Cuauhtinchan

[David Wright]

Thanks, Gordon, I'm working on this right now and your input is most useful.

-----Mensaje original-----
De: nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
En nombre de Gordon Whittaker
Enviado el: viernes, 21 de agosto de 2009 01:12 p.m.
Para: nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
Asunto: [Nahuat-l] On a:l- as in a:ltepe:tl: sources; Cuauhtinchan

Dear David,

Oops! You caught me with my pants down! I'm travelling in Italy right now,
so my access to sources is rather limited for the next couple of weeks. I
think Xihuiltemoc is in Ixtlilxochitl, not that that helps much, given the
garbled form of the surviving manuscripts. But I'm pretty sure it occurs
in bona fide Nahuatl texts of the 16th century. Since the name is a
prominent elite name, it is found in a variety of sources.

There are actually a number of additional examples of <tl+t> becoming <lt>
in the literature, always spanning word boundaries, so it is indeed, as
you say, a sandhi phenomenon. Perhaps someone hovering in cyberspace can
help us out here with further examples.

The place names Alpoyeccan and Almoloyan seem to be construed as A:tl
Poyecca:n 'Where is Water Is Salty' and A:tl Molo:yya:n 'Where the Water
Swirls'. These contrast with the more common construction noun +
i:-possessive+verbstem+locative (e.g. Atlicalaquiyan, which is properly
speaking two words).

As you rightly point out, Coatlichan is a juxtaposition of two words, not
a compound. Cuauhtinchan is a another nice example of partial assimilation
of freestanding words -- standing for Cua:uh-tin I:n-ch:an 'Home of the
Eagles'.

Best,
Gordon


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