cacomistle

[Michael McCafferty]

Magnus:

Where can I find the documentation for your translation. It's 
interesting. Thank you.

Michael

Quoting Magnus Pharao Hansen <magnuspharao at gmail.com>:

> Dear Tom
>
> No, tepemaxtla does not mean "mountain splitter", nor is the etymology you
> propose possible. Tepe:- does indeed mean mountain, but maxtla does not come
> from maxalihui or maxac - it comes from maxtlatl - meaning fox (or by
> extension other small furry carnivorous mammals). Tepemaxtla simply means
> mountain-fox.  The reason it is not possible to derive maxtla from maxalihui
> or maxac is that that would leave the -tla element unexplained, and because
> there is no known derivational process that could derive maxtla from
> maxalihui or maxactli.
>
> best regards
>
> Magnus
>
>
> From: grigsby tom <tom_grigsby at yahoo.com>
>> To: nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
>> Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:37:27 -0800 (PST)
>> Subject: [Nahuat-l] cacomistles
>>
>> Estimados listeros,
>>
>>
>>
>> Am I correct in referring to the tepemaxtla as a ?mountain splitter??  My
>> reasoning is as follows:
>>
>>
>>
>> The *tepemaxtla*  is a nocturnal <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturnal>,
>> arboreal <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arboreal> and
>> omnivorous<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnivore>mammal known
>> in English as the ring-tailed cat or *cacomistle* (*Bassariscus
>> sumichrasti <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacomistle>* or *B.astutus*) and
>> is a member of the Procyonidae family that includes the
>> raccoons<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procyon_%28genus%29>,
>> coatis <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coati>,
>> kinkajous<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkajou>,
>> and olingos <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olingo>.   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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>
>
>
> --
> Magnus Pharao Hansen
> Graduate student
> Department of Anthropology
>
> Brown University
> 128 Hope St.
> Providence, RI 02906
>
> *magnus_pharao_hansen at brown.edu*
> US: 001 401 651 8413
>



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