[Aztlan] Votan

[Nick Hopkins]

Listeros: 


Karen Bassie mentioned in passing that the etymology of Votan was murky. I agree, but a couple of years ago I saw some light in the murk.  It's not pretty, but "It works for me!" (the ultimate argument in etymological research as well as Maya epigraphy).


(1) Frances Karttunen, in her An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Oklahoma, 1983) cites a word <cuauhtlah>, i.e., /kwawtlah/ with the meaning "mountain, wilderness, forest." (2) Pedro Geoffroy Rivas, in his Toponimia Nahuat de Cuscatlan [El Salvador]) has <cuhtan>, i.e., /kuhtan/ as "monte, campo," clearly the same word, since the Central Mexican /tl/ is matched by /t/ in the southern languages, and it's not hard to get from /kwaw/ to /kuh/. And remember that <u> just represents a long /o/. 


My hypothesis is that (3) between Central Mexican Nahuatl and El Salvador Nahuat, specifically the Tabasco coast, there was a variety of language – perhaps a Chontal dialect with words borrowed from Nahuat –  that reduced the initial /kw/ to /w/ and had the word */wotan/, perhaps */wohtan/,  for not just "mountain, wilderness, forest" but for the Earth Lord, the ubiquitous Nature god, who is also a principal underworld caracter and often goes under names like "mountain." Now, (4) put the Earth Lord in place of Night in the daynames (not a real stretch, given the mythology, and read Thompson 1960 on Akbal for further support) – and Bob's your uncle!  You now have Votan in place of Ak'b'al, and you could argue that cave names like Ak'b'al-nah (Night-House) near Yajalón refer to the Earth Lord's home. Note that the Aztec dayname corresponding to Ak'b'al is House, suggesting this is the underworld house where the sun goes at night, the province of the Earth Lord. 


Works for me!



 		 	   		  
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