[Aztlan] Votan

[Nick Hopkins]

Sorry, but the etymologies are mistaken. Yes, /tan/ is 'breast,chest', but 'heart' is /'o'tan/ (among other variants), and the possessed form is /'aw-o'tan/, so the analysis as /'a-wotan/ is incorrect. It all makes beautiful metaphor, but bad etymology. You certainly don't get the root /tan/ possessed as /u-tan/ and then repossessed as /'aw-utan/; that analysis should be repossessed.




> From: awoolrich at comcast.net
> To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
> Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2010 00:44:15 -0800
> Subject: [Aztlan] Votan
> 
> Daniel Brinton in 'American Hero-Myths' writes:
> 
> _______________________________________
> 
> "As we are informed by Bishop Nunez de la Vega, _uotan_ in Tzendal means _heart_. Votan was spoken of as "the heart or soul of his people." <...> In regard to derivation, _uotan_ is from the pure Maya root-word _tan_, which means primarily "the breast," or that which is in front or in the middle of the body; with the possessive prefix it becomes _utan_. In Tzendal this word means both _breast_ and _heart_. This is well illustrated by an ancient manuscript, dating from 1707, in my possession. It is a guide to priests for administering the sacraments in Spanish and Tzendal. I quote the passage in point[1]:
> 
> [Footnote 1: _Modo de Administrar los Sacramentos en Castellano y Tzendal_, 1707. 4to MX., p. 13.]
> 
> "Con todo tu corazon, hiriendote
> 
> en los pechos, di, conmigo."
> 
> _Ta zpizil auotan, xatigh zny
> 
> auotan, zghoyoc, alagh ghoyoc_."
> 
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> 
> Brinton goes on to equate this definition "heart" with the K'iche' concept of "heart of sky heart of earth".
> 
> Also, having apparently made a critical examination of these among other sources, (Ordonez y Aguiar, Bourbourg, etc), Brinton specifically names "Palenque, Nachan, Huehuetlan" as cities attributed to Votan. One can't help but wonder if Tzendal myths of "Nachan" played a role in kindling the Ordonez brothers' interest in the ancient cities. Or, posed as a question, why did scholars of the late 19th/early 20th century (apparently even as late as 1955) so habitually accept the connection of Votan to Nachan and therefore Palenque? 
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