How Nahuatl uses compound words to adapt to an ever-changing world

Perhaps the most striking examples in compound words in Nahuatl are in toponyms, or place names. For example just limiting ourselves to the state of Puebla in Mexico, we have the town of Papaloapan which comes from papalotl/butterfly and apan/river so the colorful translation of the place name is “River of butterflies.” Coacalco is composed of coatl/serpent, calli/house and –co which is a suffix that indicates “place of.” All together we get the poetic image: “Place of the house of the serpent.” While we are on the subject of serpents there is another town with the name Mazacoatlan which comes from mazatl/deer, coatl/serpent and the suffix –tlan/among. Put it all together and you get: “Among the deer snakes.” It is important to add for the unfamiliar reader that a mazacoatl is a species of boa constrictor found in Mexico and they are quite harmless in spite of their immense size!!
The amazing thing about these toponyms is that with a limited vocabulary in Nahuatl you can translate a limitless number of place names and at the same time learn about the characteristics and history of each town or city.

Examples of Nahuatl toponyms in the state of Puebla, Mexico today

These compound words are not only powerful building blocks for vocabulary development but they are also wonderful ways to create very poetic images. First we will look at some examples from a 16th century document called Nican Mopohua (Here it is Told) which relates the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Here it was vital for the writer to describe both new and old concepts in the lofty and sophisticated style of classical Nahuatl in order to move and inspire the readers or the listeners. Below are a few examples:-
• (Para 13) iluikatlasokuikatl/precious celestial song (birds’ singing in the morning): iluikatl/sky; tlaso/precious, loved; kuikatl/song

Library in Nahuatl - a book house

Jumping now to the 20th century we have some examples from two contemporary Mexican poets: Natalio Hernández and Juan Hernández Ramírez. Just like the writers of Nican Mopohua, these two poets use compound words to craft wonderful metaphors that can introduce the reader to a new and spiritual world. Below is just a partial list of these metaphors and in the reference section, I include the bibliographical references to their books.

Natalio Hernández
From: Yancuic Anahuac cuicatl: Canto nuevo de Anáhuac
• (P. 112) Totlalnantzin “Our dear mother Earth”: to/our; tlalli/earth; nantzin/dear mother (suffix -tzin indicates a diminutive or reverence)

Censer in Nahuatl - incense dish

It isn’t clear in some cases whether the poets are coining these words or not but it doesn’t seem to matter since, especially to the foreign ear, they are all a delight to the senses. Another thing that is important to point out is that there is no standard way of spelling in Nahuatl and many times it depends on regional preferences. This is why the spellings used in this article vary in some of the textual examples included here.

Nahuatl compound words for Spanish language and tombstone

References:-
• Aitchison, Jean (1998) Words in the mind: an introduction to the mental lexicon. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
• Franco, Felipe (1976) Indonimia geográfica del estado de Puebla: Impresora periodística y commercial
• Jakobson, Roman (1959) “On linguistic aspects of translation”, in Venuti, Lawrence (ed.) (2000) The translation studies reader London & New York: Routledge pp. 113-118.

Books by the poets cited:-
• Hernández, Natalio (2007) Yancuic Anahuac cuicatl: Canto nuevo de Anáhuac México D.F.: Escritores en Lenguas Indígenas
• Hernández Ramírez, Juan (2010) Tlatlatok Tetl: Piedra Incendiada, México D.F.: Escritores en Lenguas Indígenas, AC
• Hernández Ramírez, Juan (2007) Chikome xochitl/Siete flor México D.F., Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes.

Nahuatl words for aeroplane and church