cacomistles

[grigsby tom]

Estimados listeros,
 
Am I correct in referring to the tepemaxtla as a “mountain splitter?”  My reasoning is as follows:
 
The tepemaxtla  is a nocturnal, arboreal and omnivorous mammal known in English as the ring-tailed cat or cacomistle (Bassariscus sumichrasti or B.astutus) and is a member of the Procyonidae family that includes the raccoons, coatis, kinkajous, and olingos.   The etymology of the animal’s Tepoztecan name comes from the Nahuatl tepetl, “mountain or hill, and the verb maxalihui, to split, divide, or fork; I would therefore gloss the barrio’s epithet as “the mountain splitter.”  According to Redfield’s informants, the propensity to “live under the rocks” may account for the barrio’s inhabitants’ identification with the tepemaxtla and their nickname (1930:82).  
 
 [1] Alonso de Molina, 1571, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana (Mexico City: Porrua, 1970), f. 78r.  Frances Karttunen (1992:141) writes: The sequence MAX appears in many entries in M (Molina) and S (Simeon) having to do with bifurcation…and under Maxac-tli, “thighs or crotch” (p.141). In San Andrés de la Cal the Nahuatl word maxac refers to the labia majora (Grigsby 1990; field notes.
 
Thank you for your comments,
 
Tom Grigsby
G.S. Rakovski St., No.79 
Boboshevo, 2660 Bulgaria
GSM: 359 0899 784 081


 
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