Cross-post from Aztlan

[John F. Schwaller]

On our sister list Aztlan at lists.famsi.org there was a discussion about 
sacrifice under the Aztecs.  This prompted a discussion of the various 
names applied to the Aztecs.  Gordon Whitaker provided a good summary of 
the terminology, which I corss-post here to Nahuatl

> From: Gordon Whittaker [gwhitta at gwdg.de]
> Sent: 18 February 2009 21:17
> To: Dodds Pennock, Dr C.E.
> Cc: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
> Subject: Re: los 500 sacrificados: Aztec terminology
>
> Dear Caroline, dear colleagues,
>
> Since you take issue with certain much-used terminology with regard to
> Aztec culture, I think it might be useful to discuss this more fully.
>
> First, with regard to the term 'Aztec': It was indeed first popularized by
> Clavigero. However, it is a perfectly good term used by the Aztecs to
> refer to themselves in connection with their ancestry, one that they
> shared with several related Nahua groups, just as the Aztec Empire itself
> was also shared (co-ruled, at least in name) by several of these groups,
> notably the Tepaneca and Acolhuaque. I believe Cuauhtemoc himself is
> recorded in Nahuatl using the term. Of course, the term 'Mexica' is
> appropriate in describing both the Tenochca in a narrow sense and, more
> literally, the citizens of both Mexico Tenochtitlan and Mexico Tlatelolco,
> and indeed in describing the empire they founded. After the conquest of
> Tlatelolco by Axayacatl, the term is often applied as if interchangeable
> with Tenochca (rather like U.S. Americans referring to themselves as
> 'Americans' to the ire of all more southerly inhabitants of the
> Americas!). But Aztec is fine in modern usage -- and the Aztecs would have
> been very happy with it. To them the term was a distinguished one, like
> 'Tolteca' and another one mentioned below.
>
> By the way, you speak of the "Tenocha". I have seen this inaccurate form
> occasionally in non-specialist literature. It should always be 'Tenochca'.
> The term is unusual only in that it should come from a place name
> 'Tenochco', which, however, is unattested, but may well have designated
> the heart of the original settlement. 'Tenochca' or 'Tenochtitlan
> chaneque' (or 'tlaca' are the only possibilities for naming the population
> of the capital (excluding Tlatelolco).
>
> Finally, you use the term 'Culhua Mexica': This phrase, which was favoured
> by Barlow, is based on an occasional term found in Spanish, not Nahuatl,
> contexts. 'Colhua' ('Culhua' is simply a Colonial-period spelling) is
> singular, 'Mexica' is plural. If the Aztecs had wanted to use this, they
> would have had to say 'Colhuaque Mexica' in reference to their dynasty's
> descent from the line of Colhuacan.
>
> Please forgive my taking you to task on these points. Unfortunately,
> things have a way of perpetuating themselves as they get passed on in the
> scholarly and popular literature. Thus, frequent references to an emperor
> 'Ahuizotl' (for 'Ahuitzotl'), to 'Moctezuma' or, worse, especially common
> in British usage, 'Montezuma' (for 'Motecuhzoma' or 'Moteuczoma',
> depending on your transcriptional preferences), etc. are rather like
> referring to a certain Roman as 'Ceasar' (which one indeed sees these
> days!) and to the Roman capital of Britain as 'Londonium'. Trivial to
> some, but hardly accurate in scholarly usage. Since Nahuatl is still
> rarely learned by historians working on the Aztec period (Hugh Thomas is a
> particularly painful example in this context) -- something unthinkable in
> e.g. Roman or Chinese studies --, this sort of thing happens easily.
>
> Please do not interpret these comments as an attack, but rather as an
> attempt to straighten the record on some high-profile terminology!
>
> Best wishes,
> Gordon
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Gordon Whittaker
> Professor
> Linguistische Anthropologie und Altamerikanistik
> Seminar fuer Romanische Philologie
> Universitaet Goettingen
> Humboldtallee 19
> 37073 Goettingen
> Germany
> tel./fax (priv.): ++49-5594-89333
> tel. (office): ++49-551-394188

-- 
*****************************
John F. Schwaller
President
SUNY - Potsdam
44 Pierrepont Ave.
Potsdam, NY  13676
Tel. 315-267-2100
FAX 315-267-2496

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