Fwd: Chayote

[Fernando Moreira]

Greetings Nahuatl experts. I am trying to ascertain if chayote is a
descriptive and compound word, that is, I am not sure if the “ch-“ sound is
(or part of) a morpheme. It is clear that ayote comes from Nahuatl ayotli
for ‘squash’.

Since other names for chayote, like güisquil can come from the Pipil form
witskilit which comes from the combination of wits-ti thorns and kili-t
“chipilin plant”, in Classical Nahuatl the latter comes from “quilitl”
meaning weed; vegetable; the adjective green or edible (Campbell 1985;
Herrera 2003; Picó and Nuez 2000). The word in its entirety could mean
“thorny vegetable”; this description does its morphology justice.

Another Nahua related name is Guisayote which is also a compound word from
wits-ti and ayotli, whose totality could mean something like “thorny
squash”.

The patterns seems to dictate that the “ch-“ sound is a morpheme meaning
thorny or something that describes the squash like hairy squash.

Albeit Taguihlo, the Pajapan designation for chayote, is derived from the
Nahuatl word tla:quillotl which according to Chevalier comes from the
conflation of fruit-egg-child (2003).

Any insight would be great.

Thanks,

*Fernando A. Moreira, B.A.
*Cell: (403)4757510
VoIP YYC: (587)8876892
Skype: fa.moreira.r
E-mail : fa.moreira.r at gmail.com
E-mail : fmoreira at ucalgary.ca
_______________________________________________
Nahuatl mailing list
Nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
http://www.famsi.org/mailman/listinfo/nahuatl