Tunas and purslane

[Jonathan Amith]

Hi David,

The reference to obsidian is for itzmiquilitl "Del itzmiquilitl o verdura
parecida a las puntas de itztli de las flechas." There are 7 varieties
given all said to be "siemprevivas".  Whether the itsmi- here is different
than the roots in tetsmitl/a:itsmitl... who knows? But the drawing is
definitely different than a verdolaga (Hernandez, Libro 11 Cap. XLVIII).
They are all called siempreviva, which is often a term for Sedum spp. (one
could look into 16th century Spanish terminology). In the comentaries to
Hernandez this is suggested to be aTalinum, a genus that used to be in the
same family as verdolaga. The commentaries seem to be missing in the
published version for the plants on II:13, i.e., the seven types of
itzmiquilitl.

The blades of the Portulaca oleraceae don't look much like obsidian blades
to me!



On Sat, Nov 5, 2011 at 2:55 PM, David Wright <dcwright at prodigy.net.mx>wrote:

> Estimado Johnathan:****
>
> ** **
>
> I am reluctant to give up the itztli/i:tztli + mi:tl etymology for
> itzmitl/aitzmitl/teitzmitl, since it is the only hypothesis I can come up
> with, and it seems to make sense (arrow heads resemble leaves), but your
> data does show the lack of vowel-length correspondence (mitl vs. mi:tl),
> even if we admit both itztli and i:tztli as variant forms for obsidian.***
> *
>
> ** **
>
> I couldn’t find any mention of blades in Hernández’s treatise, in the
> parts describing tetzmitl or either of the two classes of aitzmitl.****
>
> ** **
>
> The pictorial sign for Itzmiquilpan in the Codex Mendoza (f. 27r) shows
> what looks like a sprig of purslane over a cultivated field, with one leaf
> in the form of a white almond-shaped blade with a red tip. This, however,
> is not necessarily evidence of the semantic value of the toponym, since
> pictorial signs were used to express ideas (semasiography), morphemes
> (logography), and phonic units such as syllables and phonemes
> (phonography). Thus the blade could represent the idea of a blade, the
> morpheme itz/i:tz (sound with meaning), and/or the syllable itz/i:tz (just
> the sound, opening up the possibility of homophonic or cuasihomophonic
> morpheme play). The fact that the scribe/painter thought of a blade when
> representing this toponym, however, lends some degree of strength to the
> itztli/i:tztli + mi:tl hypothesis. The whiteness of the lower half of the
> blade is another problem, since obsidian in the codices is usually painted
> black (although obsidian itself comes in a wide variety of colors).****
>
> ** **
>
> Saludos,****
>
> ** **
>
> David****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> *De:* Jonathan Amith [mailto:jdanahuatl at gmail.com]
> *Enviado el:* sábado, 05 de noviembre de 2011 11:54
>
> *Para:* David Wright
> *CC:* Nahuat-l
> *Asunto:* Re: [Nahuat-l] Tunas and purslane****
>
> ** **
>
> Hi David,****
>
>  ****
>
> Yes, Matias Alonso does not mark vowel length, hence my question. It is
> actually interestingly organized as a word menu (by semantic field)
> although the final aspirations are randomly marked or not marked. I am not
> sure that the root in itsmitl (tetsmitl-a:itsmitl) is in any way related to
> i:tstli even though Hernandez does relate the semantics of the plant and
> blade.****
>
>  ****
>
> In the Balsa area to:mohtli is the term for the prickly pear fruit and
> discussions about whether a given plant is a to:motli is based on whether
> it produces this fruit. No:chtli is used only for no:chmahtlapahli, a very
> small, low-to-the ground Opuntia that I have not yet had identified (it was
> just collected this summer; its fruit is used to color masa when totopoxtli
> (sweet, ruffled tortillas) are made for Corpus Christi. I havenºt found
> to:mohtli in any other sources to date.****
>
>  ****
>
> By the way, I have put up a few notes on
> http://www.balsas-nahuatl.org/ethnobiology . They are quite random for
> now. The chapolin one discusses a general approach.****
>
>  ****
>
> Jonathan****
>
> ** **
>
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