xitomatl

[Michael McCafferty]

Quoting Susana Moraleda <susana at losrancheros.org>:

> Niltze nocniuhhuan,
> I would like to understand, once and for all, the real ethymology of
> the word XITOMATL. I've searched and searched, and found many
> different (and often absurd) sources, but three are the ones that are
> almost omnipresent.
>
> XICTLI, navel
> XITOMA, peel off
> TOMAHUAC, fat
>


This is a good question, Susana.

xi:ctli is not the source, as we'd have xi:ctomatl instead xi:tomatl.

Someone once told me that 'tomatl' came from toma:hua 'swell', but I 
don't think so.

It seems the origin is the "peel" idea, and that there is a morpheme 
with two allomorphs, xi:p- and xi:-, and they refer to peeling. The 
toma is toma/tomi 'for something to loosen up'. Sounds like people 
skinned these colorful xi:tomatl.

Michael









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