tlacoyoctli

[IDIEZ]

Piyali nohuihuiticapoyohuan,
	I have a problem that probably wouldn’t be so serious if I got out more often....
	“Tlacoyoctli,” “a hole” seems to be what Andrews calls a “Perfective Patientive Noun” and he gives lots of examples at the beginning of Lesson 39 in the most recent edition of his grammar. The problem is that the only verb root this noun could come from is “coyonia, nic”, “to perforate/make a hole in s.t.” But structurally it seems to come from ”coyoni,” the intransitive “to become perforated,” or an unattested and ridiculous “coyona.” It is as if “coyonia” has either lost the entire “-ia” or has reverted to the intransitive form before switching into a noun. What is going on?
John

John Sullivan, Ph.D.
Professor of Nahua Language and Culture
Zacatecas Institute for Teaching and Research in Ethnology
Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas
+52 (492) 925-3425 (office)
+52 1 (492) 103-0195 (mobile)
idiez at me.com
www.macehualli.org

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