Nahuatl Digest, Vol 179, Issue 1

[Magnus Pharao Hansen]

Dear Dr. Bassett

Mesoamerican languages do not generally have a distinction between blue and
green as the one found in european languages - this is also true for Nahuatl
- and matlalin could probably describe any dark hue in the blue/green end of
the specter. An excellent source to color references in Nahuatl and other
Mesoamerican langauges is Robert E MacLaury's Cdolor and COgnition in
Mesoamerica, therw you will be able to see schematic representations of the
basic color categories of several modern dialects of Nahuatl - most of which
have a single basic category  covering both green and blue colors.

Best regards

Magnus Pharao Hansen

On 1 June 2010 19:00, <nahuatl-request at lists.famsi.org> wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. matlalin - blue, green, blue-green? (Molly Bassett)
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Molly Bassett <mbassett at gsu.edu>
> To: "Nahuat-l (messages)" <nahuatl at lists.famsi.org>
> Date: Mon, 31 May 2010 14:01:04 -0400
> Subject: [Nahuat-l] matlalin - blue, green, blue-green?
> Hi, all.
>
> I'm working on a piece dealing with the significance of colors in
> precontact Central Mexican religious contexts, and I have a question about
> the meaning of ma:tla:lin.
>
> Frances Karttunen follows Molina in defining matlalin as “the color dark
> green”:  “This is attested in Z in matlalzahuatl (literally ‘green pox’) and
> possibly in Matlalpan, although the sense of the latter would be obcure from
> this gloss, which appears to have something to do with lowness of sature.
> Conceivably it is derived instead from tlalpan ‘on the ground'" (139).
>
> But Dibble & Anderson translate matlalin as “blue” in the *Florentine*,
> which notes that "its name comes from nowhere.  It is the blossom of an
> herb, a blossom.  This matlalin is blue and a little herb-green.  It is very
> sound, firm, good, of good appearance, fresh green.  It is fresh green, very
> resh green. . . . / acan quizqui in itoca, xihuitl ixochyo, xochitl: inin
> matlali texotic, ihuan achi quiltic, cenca ixtlapalhui, ixchicactic, cualli,
> cualnezqui, celic, celic, celpatic. . . ." (11: 240).
>
> The Badianus Ms. cites matlalxochitl (presumably the xochitl referred to in
> the Florentine?) as an element in a treatment for "heat" in the eyes (pl.
> 14, p. 218).  The footnote for matlalxochitl glosses the term as "blue
> flower" identifies the plant as "the dayflower, Commelina, of which a number
> of species are found on the Mexican plateau.  A native variant Nahuatl name
> for it is matlaliztic.  Hernández refers to several varieties of
> matlalxochitl (pp. 383-4), but none of the illustrations resembles
> Commelina; thus the name must have been applied to several flowers of blue
> color" (219-20).
>
> So, two of these three sources relate matlalin to blue; I haven't followed
> up on Hernández yet.  Are there other places I should look for more
> information on matlalin as blue or green?  I realize that blue-green
> functioned as a range or spectrum in precontact Mesoamerica, but the
> discrepancy among these sources has piqued my curiosity.
>
> Thanks,
> Molly
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> Molly H. Bassett
> Assistant Professor, Mesoamerican Religions and Indigenous Traditions
> Department of Religious Studies
> Georgia State University
> 1137 34 Peachtree Street NW
> Atlanta, GA 30302
>
>
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