Chapter 11

TEPANECAS or TECPANECAS, 35. A powerful nation of Nahuatl lineage, who dwelt in the valley of Mexico. They were destroyed in 1425 by the Acolhuas and Mexicans, and later the state of Tlacopan was formed from their remnants. Comp. probably from _tecpan_, a royal residence, with the gentile termination.

TEPEYACAC, TEPEYACAN, 93. From _tepetl_, mountain, _yacatl_, nose, point, and postpos, _c_. 1. A small mountain on which the celebrated church of the Virgin of Guadalupe now stands. 2. A large town and state subject to ancient Mexico, now Tepeaca in the province of Puebla.

TETLAPAN QUETZANITZIN, 68, 69. A ruler of Tlatilolco, contemporary of the conquest. See Note to Song VI.

TETZCOCO, now TEZCUCO, 14, 35, 36, 77. Capital city of Acolhuacan, and residence of Nezahualcoyotl. It has been called "the Athens of Anahuac." The derivation of the name is from a plant called _tetzculli_ (_Cod. Ramirez_).

TEZOZOMOC, TEZOZOMOCTLI, 35, 39, 67, 88, 89. A ruler of the Tepanecas, celebrated for his warlike skill and severity. His death is placed in the year 1427. The name, like Montezuma, is derived from _zoma_, to be angry, in this case from the reduplicated frequentative form, _zozoma_.

TIZATLAN, 103. "The place of white varnish" (_tizatl_), the name of one of the four quarters of the city of Tlascala.

TLACOMIHUATZIN, 93. "The noble cousin of the lynx" (_tlacomiztli_, lynx, huan, postpos., denoting affinity, _tzin_, reverential). The name of a warrior.

TLACOPAN, now TACUBA, 135. A small state west of Mexico and subject to it, built up on the ruins of the ancient Tepanecas. Comp. from _tlacotli_, a slave.

TLAHUICAN, 118. A Nahuatl province south of the valley of Mexico, so called from the cinnabar, _tlahuitl_, there obtained (Buschmann; but the _Cod. Ramirez_ gives the meaning "toward the earth," from _tlalli_ and _huic_). [*Transcriber's note: TLAHUICAN not found in text. See Tlahuica in Vocabulary.]

TLAILOTLACAN, 140. One of the seven divisions of the city of Tezcuco (_Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chichimeca_, cap. 38). [*Transcriber's note: TLAILOTLACAN not found in text.]

TLAILOTLAQUI, 84. Literally, "workers in refuse," or "scavengers." Said by M. Aubin to have been a tribe who settled in Tezcuco in the reign of Quinantzin. The term is apparently one of contempt. [*Transcriber's note: TLAILOTLAQUI not found on page 84 in text. See Tlailotlaqui in Vocabulary.]

TLALMANALCO, 42. A village near the foot of the volcano Popocatepetl. Derived from _tlalmanalli_, level ground, with postpos. _co_.

TLALNAHUACATL, 89. "Dweller on the land;" name of a warrior.

TLALOC, 45. God of rain and the waters; a famous divinity among the ancient Mexicans. The word means "stretched on the earth," and the idol of the god represented a man extended on his back holding a vase.

TLAPALLAN, 105. A mythical land from which the Toltecs were fabled to have come and to which Quetzalcoatl returned. The derivation is from _tlapalli_, color, especially red.

TLATETOLCO, TLATILULCO, 33, 83, 85. A suburb of the ancient city of Mexico, founded in 1338; from _tlatelli_, a mound, _ololoa_, to make round, the sense being "an island." See Motolinia, _Historia de los Indios_, Trat. III, cap. 7.

TLAXCALLAN, now TLASCALA, 89, 93, 103. "The place of bread," from _tlaxcalli_, bread. Site of a warlike tribe of Nahuatl descent, east of the valley of Mexico.

TLATZIN, 46. Chief of a town of the Chichimecs, situated on Lake Chalco. He flourished toward the close of the 14th century. From _tlatli_, a falcon.

TOCHIN, 89. From _tochtli_, rabbit; name of the brother of the Tezcucan ruler Quinantzin, and of many other personages.

TOLLAN, or TULAN, 46, 105, 107. The ancient mythical capital of the Toltecs. The common derivation from _tolin_, a rush, is erroneous. The name is a syncopated form of _tonatlan_, "the place of the sun."

TOLTEC, properly TOLTECATL, 46, 111. An inhabitant of Tollan. The Toltecs were a mythical people, whose civilization was supposed to have preceded that of the Aztecs.

TOPILTZIN, 46, 105. "Our son" or "Our lord" (see Nopiltzin). The term was especially applied to Quetzalcoatl, q. v. See Orozco y Berra, _Hist. Antig. de Mexico_, Tom. III, p. 54.

TOTOQUILHUATLI, 41. From _totoquilia_, to act as agent or lieutenant. Ruler of Tlacopan. The verse of the song in which this name occurs is given in the original Nahuatl by Ixtlilxochitl, who says it was very popular throughout New Spain. See his _Historia Chichimeca_, cap. 32.

XICALANCO, 107. A locality on the borders of the province Tabasco. The people spoke Nahuatl. Deriv. _xicalli_, gourd or jar, and postpos. _co_.

XICOMATZINTLAMATA, 43. Name of a warrior not otherwise known. The compound seems to mean "skillful with angry hand" (_xicoa, maitl, tlamati_).

XICONTECATL, 103. Name of several distinguished Tlascalan warriors, lords of Tizatlan. See Clavigero, _Hist. Antica di Messico_, Tom. III, pp. 38 and 40, One was a favorite of Nezahualcoyotl. See Ixtlilxochitl, _Historia Chichimeca_, cap. 40.

XIUHTEUCTLI, 15. The god of fire, literally, "the lord of the year," or "of the foliage."

XIUHTZAL, 46. A queen of ancient Tollan, said by Clavigero to have ruled from A. D. 979 to 984. Other writers give the name more correctly Xiuhtlaltzin, "Lady of the Green Fields," and place her death in 987. (Orozco y Berra, _Hist. Antig. de Mexico_, Tom. III, p. 45.)

XOLOTL, 46. An early if not the first king of the Chichimecs. His death occurred in 1232.

YOHUALLATONOC, 89. "Shining at night." Name of a warrior.

YOPICO, 22. A division of the ancient city of Mexico, containing a temple of this name. The word means "the place of the tearing out of hearts" (_yolltol, pi, co_), from the form of sacrifice there carried out.

YOYONTZIN, 35, 40, 66, 67. A name of Nezahualcoyotl. See p. 35.

FOOTNOTES.

[Footnote 1: Diego Duran, _Historia de las Indias de Nueva España_, Tom. I, p. 233; and compare Geronimo de Mendieta, _Historia Eclesiastica Indiana_, Lib. II, cap. 31.]

[Footnote 2: Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva España_, Lib. VIII, cap. 26.]

[Footnote 3: Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva España_, Lib. III, cap. 8.]

[Footnote 4: _Cuicoyan_, from _cuica_, song, and the place-ending _yan_, which is added to the impersonal form of the verb, in this instance, _cuicoa_. Mr. Bancroft entirely misapprehends Tezozomoc's words about these establishments, and gives an erroneous rendering of the term. See his _Native Races of the Pacific Coast_, Vol. II, p. 290, and Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 18.]

[Footnote 5: Juan de Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. VI, cap. 43.]

[Footnote 6: Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. XVII, cap. 3. Didacus Valades, who was in Mexico about 1550, writes of the natives: "Habent instrumenta musica permulta in quibus semulatione quadam se exercent." _Rhetorica Christiana_, Pars. IV, cap. 24.]

[Footnote 7: Descriptions are given by Edward Mühlenpfordt, _Die Republik Mexico_, Bd. I, pp. 250-52 (Hannover, 1844).]

[Footnote 8: Molina translates _piqui_, "crear ô plasmar Dios alguna cosa de nuevo." _Vocabulario de la Lengua Mexicana_, s.v.]

[Footnote 9: Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva España_, Lib. X, cap. 8.]

[Footnote 10: Boturini, _Idea de una Nueva Historia General_, p. 97.]

[Footnote 11: Clavigero, _Storia antica di Messico_, Lib. VII, p. 175.]

[Footnote 12: Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. X, cap. 34.]

[Footnote 13: Duran, _Hist. de la Indias de Nueva España_, Tom. I, p. 233.]

[Footnote 14: Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 64.]

[Footnote 15: Ixtlilxochitl, _Historia Chichimeca_, cap. 47.]

[Footnote 16: Boturini, _Idea de una Nueva Historia General_, p. 90.]

[Footnote 17: Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 53.]

[Footnote 18: See Sahagun, _Historia de Neuva España_, Lib. IV, chap. 17, and Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 64.]

[Footnote 19: _Cuitlaxoteyotl_, from _cuitatl_, mierda; _tecuilhuicuicatl_, from _tecuilhuaztli_, sello, _tecuilonti_, el que lo haze a otro, pecando contra natura. Molina, _Vocabulario_.]

[Footnote 20: William A. Hammond, _The Disease of the Scythians (morbus feminarum) and Certain Analogous Conditions_, in the _American Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry_, 1882.]

[Footnote 21: _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 2.]

[Footnote 22: On this subject the reader may consult Parades, _Compendio del Arte de la Lengua Mexicana_, pp. 5, 6, and Sandoval, _Arte de la Lengua Mexicana_, pp. 60, 61. Tapia Zenteno whose _Arte Novissima de la Lengua Mexicana_ was published in 1753, rejects altogether the saltillo, and says its invention is of no use except to make students work harder! (pp. 3, 4.) The vowels with saltillo, he maintains, are simply to be pronounced with a slight aspiration. Nevertheless, the late writers continue to employ and describe the saltillo, as Chimalpopoca, _Epitome á Modo Facil de aprender el Idioma Nahuatl_, p. 6. (Mexico, 1869.)]

[Footnote 23: _Arte Novissima de la Lengua Mexicana_, pp. 3, 4.]

[Footnote 24: Duran, _Historia de Nueva España_, Tom. I, p. 230.]

[Footnote 25: The singer who began the song was called _cuicaito_, "the speaker of the song."]

[Footnote 26: The most satisfactory description of these concerts is that given by Geronimo de Mendieta, _Historia Eclesiastica Indiana_, Lib. II, cap. 31. I have taken some particulars from Boturini and Sahagun.]

[Footnote 27: Literally, "the broken drum," from _tlapana_, to break, as they say _tlapanhuimetzli_, half moon. It is described by Tezozomoc as "un atambor bajo." _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 53.]

[Footnote 28: From _yollotl_, heart, and _pi_, to tear out. The instrument is mentioned by Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 48. On the Yopico, and its ceremonies, see Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva España_, Lib. II, cap. 1, and Appendix.]

[Footnote 29: Simeon, however, thinks the name arose from the growing and swelling of the sound of the instrument (notes to Jourdanet's translation of Sahagun, p. 28). Mr. H.H. Bancroft gives the astonishing translation of teponaztli, "wing of stone vapor!" (_Native Races of the Pacific States_, Vol. II, p. 293.) Brasseur traced the word to a Maya-Quiche root, _tep_. In both Nahuatl and Maya this syllable is the radicle of various words meaning to increase, enlarge, to grow strong or great, etc.]

[Footnote 30: Sahagun, _Hist. de Nueva España_, Lib. II, cap. 27.]

[Footnote 31: See _The Güegüence, a Comedy ballet in the Nahuatl Spanish dialect of Nicaragua_, Introd., p. 29. (Philadelphia, 1883.)]

[Footnote 32: Theodor Baker, _Ueber die Musik der Nord-Amerikanischen Wilden._, pp. 51-53. (Leipzig, 1882.)]

[Footnote 33: _Omitl_, bone, _chicahuac_, strong. A specimen made of the bone of a fossil elephant is possessed by Señor A. Chavero, of Mexico. See Tezozomoc, _Cronica Mexicana_, cap. 55, and the note of Orozco y Berra to that passage in the Mexican edition. Also Sahagun, _Hist. de Nueva España_, Lib. VIII, cap. 20, who likewise describes most of the instruments referred to in this section.]

[Footnote 34: H.T. Cresson, _On Aztec Music_, in the _Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia_, 1883.]

[Footnote 35: Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva España_, Lib. II, Appendice.]

[Footnote 36: Duran, _Historia de las Indias de Nueva España_, Tom. I, p. 233.]

[Footnote 37: Boturini, _Idea de una Nueva Historia General_, Appendice, p. 95.]

[Footnote 38: Echevarria, _Historia del Origen de las Gentes de Nueva España_, Discurso Preliminar.]

[Footnote 39: Clavigero, _Storia Antica di Messico_, Lib. VII, p. 175.]

[Footnote 40: "Ihre Sprachen sind überreich an doppelsinnigen Ausdrücken die sie absichtlich anwenden um ihre Gedanken zu verbergen. Geistliche haben mir versichert, dass sie obgleich der Aztekischen Sprache vollständig mächtig, oft den wahren Sinn einer Beichte nicht zu verstehen vermochten, weil die Beichtende sich in räthselhafter und metaphorreicher Weise auszudrücken pflegten." Carlos von Gagern, _Charakteristik der Indianischen Bevölkerung Mexico's_, p. 17 (in the _Mit. der Geog. Gesell._, Wien. 1837).]

[Footnote 41: Carochi's translations are not quite literal. The following notes will explain the compounds:--

1. _Tlauitl_, red ochre, _quecholli_, a bird so called, _aztatl_, a heron, _ehualtia_, reverential of _ehua_, to rise up; hence, "It (or he) shone like a noble red-winged heron rising in flight."

2. _Ayauitl_, mist; _coçamalotl_, rainbow; _tonameyotl_, shining, brightness; _ti_, connective; _mani_, substantive verb. "The brightness of the rain bow is there." There is no conjunction "and"; Father Carochi seems to have carelessly taken _ayauh_, which is the form of _ayauitl_ in composition, for the conjunction _auh_, and. Each of the lines given is a detached fragment, without connection with the others.

3. _xiuitl_, something blue or green; _coyolli_, bells; _tzitzilicaliztli_, tinkling. "The golden drum's turquoise-bell-tinkling."

4. _xiuhtic_, blue or green; _tlapalli_, red; _cuiloa_, to paint or write; _amoxtli_, book; _manca_, imperf. of _mani_. "There was a book painted in red and green." 5. _chalchiuhuitl_, the jade; _cozcatl_, a jewel; _mecatl_, a string; _totoma_, frequentative of _toma_, to unfold, unwind. "I unwind my song like a string of precious jewels."]

[Footnote 42: See above, page 10]

[Footnote 43: _On the Ikonomatic Method of Phonetic Writing, with special reference to American Archeology_. By D. G. Brinton, in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, for October, 1886.]

[Footnote 44: This fact is mentioned by Lord Kingsborough in his great work on Mexico, Vol. VI, p. 533.]

[Footnote 45: It is described in the _Anales del Museo Nacional_, Tom. III, p. 262.]

[Footnote 46: Echevarria's words are "los pongo en su idioma." _Hist. del Origen de las Gentes que poblaron la Nueva España, Discurso Preliminar_, in Kingsborough's _Mexico_, Vol. VIII.]

[Footnote 47: See his _Tezcuco en los Ultimas Tiempos de sus Antiguos Reyes_. Parte IV (Mexico, 1826).]

[Footnote 48: See the description of this fragment of Boturini by Señor Alfredo Chavero in the _Anales del Museo Nacional_, Tom. III, p. 242.]

[Footnote 49: M. Aubin, _Notice sur une Collection d'Antiquités Mexicaines_, pp. 8, 9. (Paris, 1851.)]

[Footnote 50: Printed very incorrectly in Lord Kingsborough's edition of Ixtlilxochitl's _Relaciones Historicas_ (Rel. X, Kingsborough, _Antiquities of Mexico_, Vol. IX, p. 454).]

[Footnote 51: See Sahagun, _Historia de Nueva España_, Lib. II, Appendix.]

[Footnote 52: Bustamente puts the number of the songs of Nezahualcoyotl at eighty, of which he could find only one extant, and this, as I understand his words, in Spanish only. See his _Tezcuco en los Tiempos de sus Antiguous Reyes_, p. 253 (Mexico, 1826). When Alexander von Humboldt visited Mexico he sought in vain for any fragment of the songs of the royal bard. _Vues lies Cordillères_, etc., Tom. II, p. 391.]

[Footnote 53: _Tardes Americanas_, pp. 90-94. (Mexico, 1778.)]

[Footnote 54: Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, Lib. II, cap. 45. The word _huehuetitlan_, seems to be a misprint for _ahuehuetitlan_, from _ahuehuetl_, with the ligature _ti_, and the postposition _tlan_, literally "among the cypresses."]

[Footnote 55: _Op. cit._ Tom. I, p. 795.]

[Footnote 56: _Grammatica del Idioma Mexicano_, p. 180. (Mexico, 1880.)

End of Project Gutenberg's Ancient Nahuatl Poetry, by Daniel G. Brinton