mohottah

[John Sullivan, Ph.D.]

Piyali Ben,
	You know that when mo- and itta come together, the o wins out over the i because although both are short, the o is stronger than the i. So we get motta, which you will see all the time in texts. Now, when it comes time to reduplicate, you reduplicate the new word, motta, which is now understood to be m-otta, and you get m-ohotta. 
	This kind of re-analyzed reduplication happens in the Huasteca too. So:
1. ahci, nic. to touch s.o. or s.t.
2. aahci, nic. to touch s.t. after all
3. Carlos quiaahci. Carlos touches it after all
4. Nicacahci. I touch it after all.
John

On May 12, 2010, at 9:07 AM, Leeming, Ben wrote:

> Piyali listeros,
> 
> Can anyone explain to me the process by which mo+(i)ttah (they look at each other, see themselves) becomes mohottah?
> 
> On p. 90 of Andrews’ Workbook (1975 ed.), Ex. 38A, no. 3 he writes: Nepanotl mohottah, and then on p. 195 gives the translation “They are staring at one another mutually; i.e., They are staring at one another.”  On p. 445 of the text, in the Vocabulary under (iTTA) he has “MO-(iTTA) = to look at oneself, to see oneself.”  This is close to but not identical with mohottah. 
> 
> I have this sinking feeling that it’s something really obvious, but for whatever reason I can’t account for that first h!!
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Ben
> 
> Ben Leeming
> Chair, History Department
> The Rivers School
> Weston, MA 02493
> (781) 235-9300
> 
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