nahuatl vocabulary

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What are 3 words that come from Nahuatl?

8 Words from Nahuatl, the Language of the AztecsIntroduction. Nahuatl is the language that was spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of central Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest. ... Chocolate. ... Coyote. ... Avocado. ... Tomato. ... Chili. ... Ocelot. ... Axolotl.More items...•

How do you say hello in Nahuatl?

A collection of useful phrases in Nahuatl or Aztec, a Uto-Aztecan language spoken mainly in central Mexico....Useful phrases in Nahuatl.Englishnāhuatl / nawatlahtolli (Nahuatl)Hello (General greeting)Niltze Tialli PialliHow are you?¿Quen tinemi? (How do you live?) ¿Quen tica? (inf)54 more rows

How do you say peace in Nahuatl?

cemelle (adverb) = with a peace or joy.

How do you say beautiful in Nahuatl?

In Nahuatl, we don't just “drop” the copula. Instead, we treat the noun/adjective in question as a verb, adding a subject prefix to it. “Beautiful” is “cualtzin,” “cualnēzqui” or “quetzaltic,” to be a little more poetic. “You are beautiful” is “ticualtzin,” “ticualnēzqui” or “tiquetzaltic.”

How do you say love in Aztec?

Yollotl is the Nahuatl word for “heart.”...Is Nahuatl still spoken?NahuatlEarly formProto-Nahuan2 more rows

How do you say God in Nahuatl?

Teotl ( modern Nahuatl pronunciation (help·info)) is a Nahuatl term that is often translated as "god". It may have held more abstract aspects of the numinous or divine, akin to the Polynesian concept of Mana.

When was Nahuatl written?

Because Nahuatl was written using Spanish orthography beginning in the 1500s, it is easy to trace the words that have been absorbed into English in the ensuing centuries, words that describe the plants, animals, and food of the New World.

How is tomato pronounced?

Because tomato came from Spanish, it was initially pronounced tuh-MAH-toh in English. But the older term potato influenced the pronunciation of the word just as it had influenced its spelling, and the long a commonly used in potato began to be used for tomato (tuh-MAY-toh). Today the tuh-MAH-toh pronunciation is still used by some in Britain and by some people in New England, but both are considered correct, no matter what that song says.

Why is chipotle different from other words?

Probably because interest in Mexican cuisine is a 20th-century phenomenon, chipotle wasn’t used in English until the 1920s.

What does chocolate mean in Spanish?

Chocolate also came to English through Spanish, but has a different Nahuatl root word: chocolātl, from the combined words chikolli meaning “hook,” probably referring to the beater used to mix chocolate with water, and ātl, meaning “water” or “liquid.”. As this etymology makes clear, chocolate originally meant “a beverage made by heating cocoa ...

Where did the word "coyote" come from?

The word coyote came to English through Mexican Spanish from the Nahuatl word coyōtl in the mid-1700s. The canine animal is native to North America, and prior to that time, many Europeans simply called them wolves; it is sometimes described as a wild dog or called the prairie wolf. It is a distinct species and is smaller than a wolf, but they are so closely related to other canines that crossbreeding sometimes takes place: a coydog is the offspring of a coyote and a feral dog. The wolf-coyote cross called coywolf also exists.

What is chili con carne?

The spicy stew made with beans, minced chilis, and usually meat called chili con carne came much later, in the mid-1800s, and is now also called just plain chili. The country called Chile (often spelled Chili in English until the 20th century) in South America is probably not named for the hot pepper.

What are cocoa beans called?

Those seeds are also called, somewhat confusingly, cocoa beans. The word cocoa was at first just a variant (and therefore a synonym) that first appeared about a century after cacao, and the two words have been used interchangeably to refer to the seeds, beans, and tree ever since.

Chocolatl

Existen varias teorías de donde proviene la palabra chocolate, una de ellas es de la combinación del Náhuatl “Xokok” que significa “Agrio” y “Atl” que significa “Agua”. La otra teoría es la combinación del Maya “Chocol” que significa “Cacao” junto con “Atl” para agua.

Xōchitl

Another Nahuatl word that has been used as a beautiful name for women is xōchitl. It is the Nahuatl word for “flower,” and also the name of a legendary Toltec queen.

Nohpalli

The next word in Nahuatl we will learn next is another familiar-looking one. “Nohpalli” is how we got the word “nopal.” Nopales refer to prickly pears, a.k.a. Opuntia cacti (native to Mexico), and their pads.

Polatanox

If you know how to say bananas in Spanish, which is “platanos,” then you are one step closer to knowing how to say the word in Nahuatl! In the indigenous language, the term is “polatanox.”

Acochcayotl

Coffee is life, and because of that, you should know how to order it in as many languages as possible. Kidding aside, whether you use it during your travels to Mexico, or just want to find a new way to describe your favorite beverage, the Nahuatl word for coffee is “acochcayotl.”

Tlaxcalli

Whether you speak English or Spanish (or both), you call a tortilla a tortilla. It’s cool to know that there’s another word used to describe it. In Nahuatl, tortillas are referred to as “tlaxcalli.”

Culanto

Cilantro (a.k.a coriander) is a major herb in Latinx cuisine, and it turns out its name has its roots in Nahuatl. Cilantro (and we assume culantro as well, as it is native to the Americas) comes from the Nahuatl word “culanto.”

How to pronounce Nahuatl?

Nahuatl can be pronounced NAwa, NAwat, or NAwal depending on the region of the speaker. However a common trend in Nahuatl is to place emphasis on the second to last syllable of any given word.

What is the language of Nahuatl?

Now it’s time to learn Nahuatl’s alphabet and sound structure. Nahuatl has adopted the latin alphabet, making the reading portion much easier than it used to be when it was written in a semi-writing system.

Who speaks the Nahuatl Language?

There is also a small community of speakers in El Salvador.

What is the difference between Nahuatl and Spanish?

One major difference being that Nahuatl is now written in the latin alphabet.

How many vowels are there in Nahuatl?

There are 5 basic vowels in Nahuatl which include: a, e, i, o, and u. Sometimes you will see “aa”, “ee” or any of these vowels used twice, this simply means to the sound longer. You may also see “a:” or “u:” this is the same as using the letter twice.

Where did the Nahuatl language originate?

While many have moved across Latin America, and to the United States, their origins can be traced to Central Mexico where the Aztec Empire once stood.

When did the Nahuan people come to power?

During this time they adopted agriculture, and urban development as a way of life. After building larger communities, sometime around 700 AD, the Nahuan people rose to power in Central Mexico.

a la calle

the streets (Notice how this is an entire phrase made into one word that, in meaning, ignores the imbedded preposition and article.)

a la carcel

in prison (Notice how this is an entire phrase made into one word that, in meaning, ignores the imbedded preposition and article. The "a la" did not mean "to the" for the Nahuas; the "a la" became fused with the noun.

a la china

China; in China; from China; or, (ditto) the Philippines; or, (ditto) the Orient; or, having to do with Asia (Notice how this is an entire phrase made into one word that, in meaning, ignores the imbedded preposition and article.)

a la huerta

orchard; or, an intensively cultivated garden (one example specifically mentions growing flowers in the huerta) James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 210.

¿Qué es el náhuatl?

El Náhuatl, en base a la información del Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas, forma parte de la Familia Lingüística yuto-nahua. Esta familia lingüística recibe este nombre a partir de que el yute (Ute) es, por un lado, uno de los idiomas que se hablan en el extremo norte del área ocupada por esta familia –en el territorio de nuestros vecinos del norte–, y de que el náhuatl es, por otro lado, el idioma que se habla en el extremo sur de la misma área.

¿Quién es el maestro de la sala Otopame?

Este curso en video es parte de la serie en vivo que impartió el maestro Arturo Gómez Martínez, curador de la sala Otopame y Sierra de Puebla del Museo Nacional de Antropología. Entre sus lecciones podemos encontrar : características de la cultrua náhuatl, el náhualt en México, vocabulario diverso y clases gramaticales.