[Aztlan] Copan

[Nick Hopkins]

My first reaction was that "bridge" was a bogus etymology for  the  
place name Copán, but the Diccionario Geografico de Guatemala lists  
the Copán River, since it passes through Guatemala (municipio of  
Camotán, not far from the Copán archaeological site), and gives its  
etymology as:

"del primitivo quahpatli = copante, puente de madera.  Del mexicano  
quah, arbol.  Copantli o copantl era el sustantivo antiguo..."

And for a place actually named "Copante," we get

"Copante, pasadera .  Puente pequeño de madera, construido sobre un  
arroyo o riachuelo.  A veces, el copante consiste en una o más tablas  
o vigas atravesadas que sirven para pasar, sin mojarse los pies, de  
una a la otra banda de una corriente de agua.  Voces mexicanas."

Kartttunen's Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl lists:

CUAUHPAN-TLI, stretcher, litter / lecho, camilla.

In other words, a Nahuatl word for a wooden framework or "bridge" has  
been borrowed into local Spanish as "copante," and this is a  
reasonable source for the place name Copán.

So the only thing bogus is that impossible form "copantl" (and  
"quahpatli," without the n, and "quah," for that matter) and the  
Diccionario Geográfico is always screwing up Nahuatl forms.

Nick Hopkins