Tunas and purslane

[Michael McCafferty]

Quoting David Wright <dcwright at prodigy.net.mx>:

> Estimados listeros:
>
>
>
> Has anyone seen the word tenochtli associated with a specific species of
> Opuntia in colonial or modern texts? (Other than the IB-UNAM edition of
> Francisco Hernández’s botanical treatise, that is.)
>

This is an interesting question, David. I wonder if, since Opuntiae 
look so much alike, there were species-specific qualifiers. (There is 
an opuntia that grows natively in Indiana. It's almost unbelievable.)

>
>
> How about colonial or modern Nahuatl words for purslane (verdolaga,
> Portulaca oleracea)? I have Sahagún’s itzmiquilitl (book 11, chapter 7,
> paragraph 3, folio 287r), which probably refers to this species (the
> association of the drawing and the gloss on f. 286r are probably in error,
> considering the descriptions in Spanish and Nahuatl). I also found itzmitl
> for “verdolaga” in Matías and Medina’s dictionary of the modern Nahuatl
> variety spoken in Acatlán.


I wonder why purslane is called itzmiquilitl. Did it evoke the image of 
an arrow with an obsidian point.

Michael



>
>
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
>
>
> Saludos,
>
>
>
> David
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nahuatl mailing list
> Nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
> http://www.famsi.org/mailman/listinfo/nahuatl
>



_______________________________________________
Nahuatl mailing list
Nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
http://www.famsi.org/mailman/listinfo/nahuatl