[Aztlan] Mayan words in English

[Bryan R. Just]

I shouldn't write emails so late at night...I realized later I was thinking
of chocolatl in my previous post instead of cacahuatl.

Bryan

Bryan R. Just, Ph.D.
Curatorial Assistant, Art of the Americas
Princeton University Art Museum

-----Original Message-----
From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
On Behalf Of Bryan R. Just
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2007 10:43 PM
To: Aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Subject: Re: [Aztlan] Mayan words in English

Although I haven't explored this further, Sophie Coe questioned whether
'cacahuatl' was ever used pre-contact in her book on chocolate.  I'd love to
hear more on this from someone who knows Nahuatl better than I do!

I don't have it handy, but I think it was Munro Edmunson, in his book on
Mesoamerican calendars, who noted that the Arawak may have borrowed 'urakan'
from Mayan 'Hun Raqan' (1 foot), a possible calendar day name for a storm
god.

Bryan

Bryan R. Just, Ph.D.
Curatorial Assistant, Art of the Americas
Princeton University Art Museum

-----Original Message-----
From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org [mailto:aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
On Behalf Of John F. Schwaller
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2007 9:43 PM
To: Barb MacLeod
Cc: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Subject: Re: [Aztlan] Mayan words in English


Cacao is a Nahuatl word, actualy "cacahuatl"  It existed long before the
arrival of the Spanish.  In all likelihood the Spanish picked it up from
the Nahua.  The -tl- is dropped when the word actually is used in some
way, leaving cacahua-  It has a root meaning of seed pod, applied to what
we know as cacao.  In Nahuatl there were other seed pods, the most famous
of which was the tlalcacahuatl, or earth-seed pod.  This one is the
peanut.  In Spanish the -tlal- part got lost ending in just cacahuate (or
cacahuete in Iberian Spanish today)


>> The word 'cocoa' originated from cacao, which is found in English as the
> word for the pod. It's an example of a spelling metathesis. The word
> 'cacao' (/kakaw/) came from Mayan all right, but before that it was a
> Mije-Sokean loan /kakawa/. I believe it became /kakawatl/ 'peanut' in
> Nahuatl after those arrived with the Spanish; Nahuatl experts please set
> me straight.
>

-- 
John F. Schwaller
President,
SUNY Potsdam
44 Pierrepont Ave.
Potsdam, NY  13676
schwallr at potsdam.edu


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