Mexitli / Mecitli vs. the accentuation of Mexico

[Gordon Whittaker]

Hi Sharon,

I hadn't mentioned this tradition directly because it has, I think, all
the hallmarks of a folk etymology. Nice and quaint, though! Sahagun's
informants are simply trying to find a way to explain what were probably
to them opaque terms: Mexi('tli, pl. Mexi'tin). The glottal stop is hinted
at by the variant -tli of Mecitli and by its alleged meaning, 'Maguey
Hare', whereas the vowel length of the first syllable is indeterminate as
attested, though clearly short in the term for 'maguey'. Even Carochi is
not always explicit in giving the first vowel long in the name of the
capital and its people, although the evidence suggests he did indeed hear
it as such. Since Aztec informants are relating Mexitin and Mexica in
Sahagun's encyclopaedia to me- 'maguey' with its short vowel, we are left
with the distinct possibility that the vowel in the first syllable of the
Aztec capital's name may not have been uniformly, or originally, long.

Cf. the variant pronunciations for Canberra, the Australian capital, with
the accent on the first syllable (the official pronunciation) or on the
second (the intended pronunciation, still widespread today). In the latter
instance, the official pronunciation is alleged to go back to the
mispronunciation of the name by the woman who officially declared Canberra
the capital!

By the way, the Spanish pronunciation of the capital, with its accent on
the first syllable, probably can be explained by the fact that Spanish
speakers found it difficult to pronounce the first vowel long in an
unaccented syllable, while accenting the second short vowel. A common
enough phenomenon that we ourselves repeat when trying to pronounce
Classical Nahuatl. So this would add to the arguments that a common or
even dominant pronunciation of the capital in Aztec times was with a long
first vowel.

I am, incidentally, still surprised when such excellent scholars as
Leon-Portilla put the accent on the <e> in the juxtaposition Mexico
Tenochtitlan, as I saw again recently. But again, perhaps a thorough study
of intonation in Nahuatl dialects -- yet to be made -- would cause us to
revise a number of our assumptions derived from prescriptive grammar.

Hary matters, nonetheless.

Best,
Gordon

Sharon wrote:
> Just to add another dimension to this etymology stew with regard to
> the name Mexica (or Mexiti),  Sahagun (Book 10, p.189 of the Anderson/
> Dibble 1950-1982 translation of General History of the Things of New
> Spain: Florentine Codex) states that:

> "One alone is called Mexicatl; many are called Mexica. This comes
> from the name Meçitli: me, that is to say, maguey; citli, rabbit. It
> should be pronouced Meçicatl. Hence it is a corruption when Mexicatl
> is said.

> Acoording to tradition, the name of the priest who led the Mexica was
> Meçitli. It is said that when he was born they named him Citli. And
> they placed him in a maguey leaf, where he grew strong; wherefore was
> he named Mecitli. And this one, when he matured, became a priest, a
> keeper of the god. It is said that he spoke personally with the
> devil, wherefore they revered him greatly; and all obeyed the one by
> whome they were led. And since he led his subjects, therefore they
> were given the name Mexica."

> Best,
> Sharon Edgar Greenhill


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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