[Aztlan] Votan

[Nick Hopkins]

RE the etymology of the name Votan, if I read the posted quotes correctly, it wasn't Brinton's mistake, but that of Nuñez de la Vega, and Brinton just accepted it without question. 
One factor here (I'm don't mean anybody commenting on Aztlan, but 19-20th century scholars) is like the saying "If the only tool you have is a hammer, all problems start to look like nails." Most 19-20th c. scholars were well versed in Nahuatl but had little first-hand knowledge of Mayan languages. There was very little scholarship on Mayan languages (other than Yucatec, another hammer) until late in the 20th century. Therefore they had a tendency to try to interpret mysterious things as Nahuatl in origin; fortunately, there WAS a lot of Nahua influence on languages like Chontal, so they are often right.  
Nick
> Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 19:04:35 -0700
> From: rick.bassie at nucleus.com
> To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
> Subject: [Aztlan] Votan
> 
> Although as Nick Hopkins pointed, Daniel Brinton wasn't correct in his 
> etymology about the name Votan, he was a very insightful scholar in many 
> of his observations. For example, sixteenth century Tzeltal and Tzotzil 
> dictionaries refer to a meteor deity called Pazlam, Pozlom or Poxlon. In 
> Tzotzil Zinacantan, Poslom is still considered a meteor or a ball of 
> fire. Nunez de la Vega stated that another term for the poslom was 
> tzihuizin. Brinton noted that tzihuizin was the Pipil form of Nahuatl 
> word xihuitl. As Karl Taube has pointed out, Xiuhtecuhtli was a fire 
> deity with meteor association.
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Aztlan mailing list
> http://www.famsi.org/mailman/listinfo/aztlan
> Click here to post a message Aztlan at lists.famsi.org
> Click to view Calendar of Events http://research.famsi.org/events/events.php
> 
> 
 		 	   		  
_________________________________________________________________
Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free.
http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469229/direct/01/