[Aztlan] A question about Aztecs and armadillos

[Peter Keeler]

U'uyeh, Listeros, 

      The recent interchange (on Aztlan) about the word for armadillo in nahuatl, 

     eg:

"It is ayotochtli not azotochtli.  Whoever told you azo... Probably was misinformed.

Yes, it means something along the lines of turtle rabbit.


Sent from my iPad
John Schwaller
Professor of History
University at Albany "

......prompted an off-line discussion among some of my Mayanist friends, 

     in which I made the point that armadillos can move fast, when they want to: 

        " Also NB armadillo ears, rather rabbit-like. 

     and they can really moooove. 

     once upon a long long time ago, W. and I out in the [Texas] hill country, we encountered a dillo, by the road. W. began to walk in her direction; she started ambling away. W. walked a little faster, she began to slowly lope away. W. began a slow run, and she took off. Then he ran full speed, and she was moving about twice as fast. And, like a jackrabbit, she was gone. 

   a delightful animal, long the mascot of the counter-culture. Dillos are pretty laid back, unless you are running after them. "

     Which comment elicited an armadillo image from the Florentine Codex from W (still running, or at least ambling, after all these years), that I suspect most of our Nahuatl listeros already know:    

"Early (? earliest) illustration of an armadillo (Florentine Codex, Book 11; page 61, fig. 201)."

     the image he sent can be seen on the Aztecs section of the Mexicolore site, picture 4:

http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/ask-experts/what-did-they-do-with-the-shells-of-armadillos-after-eating-the-meat

 Those who are unfamiliar with 'dillos can compare the codex image with more accurate photographic depictions of this peaceful critter, in many sites on the web, including this:  

 http://www.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=armadillo&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ei=QHQtVN38NZT-yQTMjYHIDQ&ved=0CCoQsAQ

that's all, 

             Peter
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