[Aztlan] Mayan words in English

[David Hixson]

Larry wrote:

Dakin and Wichmann have an article arguing that kakaw
was originally a
Nahuatl word and transmitted to Mixe-Zoquean and Mayan
later on.  It 
can
be found at Wichmann's web site:

http://email.eva.mpg.de/%7Ewichmann/CacaoChocolate.pdf
----------------------------
Dear Listeros,

I do not feel like I can come down on either side of
the linguistic details of this discussion, but I do
find the article Larry cited very interesting.  The
authors use Cacao (and Chocolate) as the basis for an
argument that Teotihuacan spoke Nahuatl as early as
the Late Preclassic.  A majority of scholars (but
certainly not all scholars) now prefer an Otomanguean
language for Teo -- Nahuatl is generally considered a
late-comer to central and southern Mesoamerica.

In other words, most scholars believe that Teotihuacan
spoke a language unrelated to the later -and intrusive
- Uto-Aztecan language group of the Aztecs.

The authors argue that the (plainly verifiable) fact
that "Cacao" was written phonetically on vessels in
the Maya hieroglyphic text as early as the 4th
century, along with their hypothetical reconstruction
of *kakawa in Proto Mixe-Zoque (from the upper Middle
or Late Preclassic) are both circumstantial arguements
for Nahuatl being in Mesoamerica centuries earlier
than is generally accepted.

Certainly a controversial conclusion.

-Dave


 
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