Where did the Nahuatl come from?
Key Takeaways: Nahuatl The language is part of the Uto-Aztecan family and originated in the upper Sonoran region of Mexico. The word "Nahuatl" means "good sounds." Nahuatl speakers reached central Mexico circa 400–500 CE, and by the 16th century, Nahuatl was the lingua franca for all of Mesoamerica.
Are Aztecs and Nahuatl the same?
Nahuatl language, Spanish náhuatl, Nahuatl also spelled Nawatl, also called Aztec, American Indian language of the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken in central and western Mexico. Nahuatl, the most important of the Uto-Aztecan languages, was the language of the Aztec and Toltec civilizations of Mexico.
What is the closest language to Nahuatl?
Most Nahuatl speakers also speak Spanish, with the exception of some of most elderly. Classical Nahuatl was the language of the Aztec empire and was used as a lingua franca in much of Mesoamerica from the 7th century AD until the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.
Is Nahuatl a Mayan language?
Nahuatl has been spoken in central Mexico since at least the seventh century CE. It was the language of the Aztec/Mexica, who dominated what is now central Mexico during the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican history....NahuatlNative toMexico19 more rows
Did Spanish come from Nahuatl?
Nahuatl was essential to Spanish conquerors and “Nahuatl continued to spread while some other languages died away” (Dalby, 436). Cultural exchanges between Spanish and Nahuatl speakers left neither language unaffected and speakers exchanged portions of their language with each other.
Who are Aztec descendants?
The Nahuas, who are the descendants of the Aztecs, continue to be the largest Indigenous group in Mexico, but there are many others in Mesoamerica, such as the Hñahñu, the Mixtec and the Maya.
Is Mexico a Nahuatl?
The Mexica (Nahuatl: Mēxihcah, Nahuatl pronunciation: [meːˈʃiʔkaʔ] ( listen); singular Mēxihcatl), or Mexicas, were a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of the Aztec Empire. The Mexica established Mexico Tenochtitlan, a settlement on an island in Lake Texcoco, in 1325.
Who speaks Nahuatl today?
It is spoken by more than 1.5 million people in Mexico, and under the "Law of Linguistic Rights" Nahuatl is recognized as a "national language" along with 62 other indigenous languages and Spanish which have the same "validity" in Mexico .
What does TL mean in Nahuatl?
Tlatollotl means "history" in Nahuatl.
Are Nahuatl and Mayan related?
The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking people who lived in central Mexico in the 14th to 16th centuries. Their tribute empire spread throughout Mesoamerica. The Maya people lived in southern Mexico and northern Central America — a wide territory that includes the entire Yucatán Peninsula — from as early as 2600 BC.
Did the Mayans and Aztecs speak the same language?
Ancient Mexico was a hotbed of language mixing. Aztecs and Maya spoke completely unrelated languages, but a Mesoamerican linguistic mindmeld tied them together in surprising ways.
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...•
Einfluss des Spanischen auf das Nahuatl
Im Laufe der Kolonialzeit veränderte sich das Klassische Nahuatl (Mexicahtlahtolli) durch den zunehmenden Einfluss des Spanischen erheblich, bis es sich in die heutigen modernen Nahuatl-Dialekte wandelte.
Spanische Lehnwörter aus dem Nahuatl
Das heutige mexikanische Spanisch sowie das Spanische in Guatemala (teilweise auch Honduras und El Salvador) weist viele Indigenismen, meist aus dem Nahuatl sowie aus den verschiedenen Maya-Sprachen, auf. Insbesondere Substantive (Orts-, Gegenstands-, Tier- sowie Pflanzennamen) wurden aus dem Nahuatl übernommen, wie z. B.
Deutsche Lehnwörter aus dem Nahuatl
Durch Vermittlung des Spanischen besitzt auch das Deutsche Lehnwörter aus dem Nahuatl, wie z. B.
Where do people speak Nahuatl?
Today, most people who speak Nahuatl live in central Mexico. but A few live in other parts of Mexico or in the United States. Nahuatl is one of the official languages of Mexico. However, most people who speak Nahuatl now also speak Spanish. Many phrases that are unique to Mexican Spanish come from Nahuatl, according to John Lipski.
What language did the Aztecs speak?
Nahuatl has changed since the end of the Aztec Empire. Over time, many different dialects of Nahuatl have developed. Today, people who speak different Nahuatl dialects do not always understand each other. The words "Mexico," " Guatemala ," and " Nicaragua " all come from Nahuatl.
Classificatie
Nahuatl behoort tot de Uto-Azteekse taalfamilie. Deze familie wordt door Joseph Greenberg ingedeeld in een Amerindische taalfamilie, die vrijwel alle oorspronkelijke talen van Amerika zou omvatten, maar die theorie wordt door de meeste taalkundigen niet geaccepteerd.
Kenmerken
Het Nahuatl kent hoofdmarkering en is een agglutinerende taal. Er is geen vast verschil tussen zinsdelen en woorden. Een woord bestaat meestal uit een prefix, vervolgens meerdere stamconcepten, en een suffix.
Schrift
Het Nahuatl werd oorspronkelijk geschreven in een rebusachtig schrift. Tegenwoordig wordt het echter in het Latijnse alfabet geschreven. Nahuatl heeft verschillende spellingen. De belangrijkste typen zijn de 'klassieke' en de 'moderne'. De klassieke vindt zijn oorsprong bij frater Bernardino de Sahagún.
Letterkunde
Het Nahuatl is een van de best bestudeerde indiaanse talen. Er is een relatief groot aantal pre- Spaanse geschriften bewaard gebleven. Voorbeelden zijn de gedichten van Nezahualcoyotl. Na de Spaanse verovering hebben enkele Azteken de geschiedschrijving van hun volk in het Nahuatl op schrift gesteld.
Classification linguistique
Il appartient à la famille uto-nahua (uto-aztèque) et est parent des familles linguistiques corachol (cora, huichol), pimana (pápago, tepehuán y tarahumara, yaqui).
Histoire
L'ancienneté de la langue ute, qui a donné naissance au nahuatl, remonterait à 5 000 ans, et serait donc comparable à celle de la famille indo-européenne. Son tronc commun serait partagé avec la famille des langues kiowas des États-Unis et du Canada [ réf. souhaitée] .
Phonologie
Le système phonologique du nahuatl compte huit voyelles : /a/, /e/, /i/ et /o/, longues ou brèves. Une transcription détaillée indique la quantité longue au moyen du macron : ā, ē, etc. ou (comme dans le tableau ci-dessus) au moyen des deux-points triangulaires de l’API : aː, eː .
Grammaire
Les langues nahuatl sont des langues agglutinantes polysynthétiques qui font des usages intensifs de composition, d'intégration et de dérivation. Autrement dit, elles peuvent ajouter de nombreux préfixes et suffixes différents à une racine de mot jusqu'à ce que des mots très longs soient formés. Un seul mot peut constituer une phrase entière .
Vocabulaire
Beaucoup de mots ont été empruntés au nahuatl dans la langue espagnole, on les appelle des nahuatlismes, dont la plupart sont des termes désignant les choses autochtones sur le continent américain. Un certain nombre d'entre eux, comme « chocolat », « tomate » et « avocat » ont fait leur chemin dans de nombreuses autres langues via espagnol.
Exemple de texte
L'exemple de texte ci-dessous est un extrait d'un communiqué publié en nahuatl par Emiliano Zapata en 1918 dans le but de convaincre les villes Nahuas dans la région de Tlaxcala à se joindre à la révolution contre le régime de Venustiano Carranza. L'orthographe employée dans la lettre est improvisée .
What is the Nahuatl language?
Classical Nahuatl is one of the Nahuan languages within the Uto-Aztecan family. It is classified as a central dialect and is most closely related to the modern dialects of Nahuatl spoken in the valley of Mexico in colonial and modern times. It is probable that the Classical Nahuatl documented by 16th- and 17th-century written sources represents a particularly prestigious sociolect. That is to say, the variety of Nahuatl recorded in these documents is most likely to be more particularly representative of the speech of Aztec nobles ( pīpiltin ), while the commoners ( mācēhualtin) spoke a somewhat different variety.
Where is Nahuatl spoken?
Classical Nahuatl (also known simply as Aztec or Nahuatl) is any of the variants of Nahuatl, spoken in the Valley of Mexico and central Mexico as a lingua franca at the time of the 16th-century Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.
How many consonants are there in Nahuatl?
Maximally complex Nahuatl syllables are of the form CVC; that is, there can be at most one consonant at the beginning and end of every syllable. In contrast, English, for example, allows up to three consonants syllable-initially and up to four consonants to occur at the end of syllables (e.g. str e ngths) ( ngths = /ŋkθs/ ). Consonant clusters are only allowed word-medially, Nahuatl uses processes of both epenthesis (usually of /i/) and deletion to deal with this constraint.
What is the most extensive Nahuatl language?
Nahuatl literature is extensive (probably the most extensive of all Indigenous languages of the Americas), including a relatively large corpus of poetry (see also Nezahualcoyotl ). The Huei tlamahuiçoltica is an early sample of literary Nahuatl.
What does the suffix "e" mean in the word "cuauhtliquetzqui"?
When used by men it has the suffix -e, where stress falls on the final syllable, e.g. Cuāuhtli quetz qui (a name, meaning " Eagle Warrior "), but Cuāuhtliquetz qué "O Cuauhtliquetzqui!". When women use the vocative, the stress is shifted to the final syllable without adding any suffix. "Oquichtli" means "man", and "Oquichtlí" means "O man!".
What does "nahuatl" mean?
Another, related term is Nāhuatlācatl [naːwaˈt͡ɬaːkat͡ɬ] (singular) or Nāhuatlācah [naːwaˈt͡ɬaːkaʔ] ( plural) literally "Na huatl-speaking people". The Nahuas are also sometimes referred to as Aztecs.
Why are there so many Nahuatl names?
There are many Nahuatl place names in regions where Nahuas were not the most populous group (including the names of Guatemala and several Mexican states), due to pre-Hispanic Aztec expansion, Spanish invasions in which Tlaxcaltecs served as the main force, and the usage of Nahuatl as a lingua franca.
What are the crops that Nahuas grow?
Common crops include corn, wheat, beans, barley, chilli peppers, onions, tomatoes, and squash. Some Nahuas also raise sheep and cattle.
How many Nahuas speak Spanish?
Their Nahuan languages, or Nahuatl, consist of many variants, several of which are mutually unintelligible. About 1.5 million Nahuas speak Nahuatl and another million speak only Spanish. Fewer than 1,000 native speakers of Nahuatl remain in El Salvador.
Where did the Spaniards go to fight the Aztecs?
In 1519 an expedition of Spaniards sailing from Cuba under the leadership of Hernán Cortés arrived on the Mexican gulf coast near the Totonac city of Quiyahuiztlan. The Totonacs were one of the peoples that were politically subjugated by the Aztecs and word was immediately sent to the Aztec Emperor (in Nahuatl, Tlatoani) of Tenochtitlan Motecuhzoma II. Going inland the Spaniards encountered and fought with Totonac forces and Nahua forces from the independent Altepetl of Tlaxcallan. The Tlaxcaltecs were a Nahua group who had avoided being subjugated by the Aztecs. After being defeated in battle by the Spaniards, the Tlaxcalans entered into an alliance with Cortes that would be invaluable in the struggle against the Aztecs. The Spanish and Tlaxcaltec forces marched upon several cities that were under Aztec dominion and "liberated" them, before they arrived in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. There they were welcomed as guests by Motecuhzoma II, but after a while they took the ruler prisoner. When the Aztec nobility realized that their ruler had been turned into a Spanish puppet they attacked the Spaniards and chased them out of the city. The Spaniards sought refuge in Tlaxcala where they regrouped and awaited reinforcements. During the next year they cooperated with large Tlaxcaltec armies and undertook a siege campaign resulting in the final fall of Tenochtitlan. After the fall of Tenochtitlan Spanish forces now also allied with the Aztecs to incorporate all the previous Aztec provinces into the realm of New Spain. New Spain was founded as a state under Spanish rule but where Nahua people were recognized as allies of the rulers and as such were granted privileges and a degree of independence that other indigenous peoples of the area did not enjoy. Recently historians such as Stephanie Wood and Matthew Restall have argued that the Nahua did not experience the conquest as something substantially different from the sort of ethnic conflicts that they were used to, and that in fact they may have at first interpreted it as a defeat of one Nahua group by another.
How many Nahuatl speakers are literate?
64.3% of Nahuatl speakers are literate in Spanish compared with the national average of 97.5% for Spanish literacy. Male Nahuatl speakers have 9.8 years of education on average and women 10.1, compared with the 13.6 and 14.1 years that are the national averages for men and women, respectively.
When did the Nahuas split from the main group?
The first group of Nahuas to split from the main group were the Pochutec who went on to settle on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca possibly as early as 400 CE. From c. 600 CE the Nahua quickly rose to power in central Mexico and expanded into areas earlier occupied by Oto-Manguean, Totonacan and Huastec peoples.
What is a Nagual?
In Mesoamerican folk religion, a nagual (pronounced [na'wal]) is a human being who has the power to shapeshift into a jaguar form. A widespread superstition holds that naguals must make a pact with the devil as well as make him an offering.
Where does the word "nagual" come from?
The word nagual derives from the Nahuatl word nahuālli [naˈwaːlːi], an indigenous religious practitioner, identified by the Spanish as a 'magician'. In English, the word is often translated as "transforming witch," but translations without negative connotations include "transforming trickster " or " shape shifter .".
What is Nagualism in Zapotec?
His name is inscribed in Zapotec glyphs on his abdomen and translates to "Five Alligator". Naguals use their powers for good or evil according to their personality. The general concept of nagualism is pan-Mesoamerican. Nagualism is linked with pre-Columbian shamanistic practices through Pre-classic Olmec depictions that are interpreted as human ...
What is Nagualli hired for?
The community knows who is a nagual, tolerating, fearing and respecting them. Nagualli are hired to remove curses cast by other nagualli. In other communities the accusation of nagualism may result in violent attacks on the accused by the community.
What is the nagual trait?
The nagual trait is acquired at birth, along with other characteristics associated with a person's birth day.
What does the tonal represent?
It is probable that the tonal represents the daytime aspect and the nagual the nighttime aspect of the tonalli, 'the things of the day'. Practitioners of powerful magic were normally born on days related to animals with a strong or harmful aspect. They would have specific tonals such as the jaguar or puma.
Where did shapeshifting originate?
However, shapeshifting folklore is not limited to Europe, nor to the Middle Ages; for example, some of Earth's oldest literature, the Bronze Age Eastern Semitic Epic of Gilgamesh, and East Asia's Huli Jing (origin of this folklore is of unknown date, but eighteenth century at the latest), contain shapeshifters.
Información general
Distribución y variedades dialectales
Como etiqueta lingüística el término "náhuatl" comprende un continuum de variantes lingüísticas que puede verse, o bien como un grupo de lenguas estrechamente relacionadas, o como dialectos divergentes de una misma lengua. En cualquier caso, las variantes del náhuatl pertenecerían al grupo náhuatl (también llamado nahuatlano y nahuano) de la familia yutonahua.
Nombre
La terminología utilizada para describir las variedades del idioma se aplica de manera inconsistente. Se utilizan muchos términos con múltiples denotaciones, o una sola agrupación de dialectos tiene varios nombres. A veces, los términos más antiguos se sustituyen por otros más nuevos o con el propio nombre de los hablantes para su variedad específica. La palabra "náhuatl" es en sí misma una palabra náhuatl, probablemente del término nawatlahtolli ( escuchar (?·i)), qu…
Clasificación lingüística
El náhuatl pertenece a la familia yutonahua (uto-azteca) el cual tiene una división prehistórica en “yutonahua del norte” y “yutonahua del sur”. De esta última rama se desarrollaron cuatro grupos, de los cuales, el grupo “nahuatlano” también llamado “nahuano” o “aztecano” dio origen al náhuatl. La división Yutonahua del sur / Nahuatlano marca el surgimiento del Proto-nahua, ancestro de todas las …
Historia
Sobre la cuestión del punto geográfico de origen, los lingüistas durante el siglo XX coincidieron en que la familia de lenguas yutonahuas se originó en el suroeste de los actuales Estados Unidos. Tanto la evidencia de la arqueología y la etnohistoria es compatible con una difusión hacia el sur a través del continente americano; este movimiento de comunidades hablantes se dio en v…
Enseñanza del náhuatl
La enseñanza de las lenguas nativas al igual que el español o cualquier idioma en el mundo se da en el seno materno de un hogar, es decir, se trasmite de padres a hijos. Esto conlleva toda una serie de factores socioculturales que determinan distintos grados de asimilación y proporcionan distintos niveles de comprensión e interpretación. Esencialmente, se pueden considerar dos tipos de hablantes: quienes simplemente reproducen el habla de su entorno incluso sin necesidad de …
Descripción lingüística
La gramática más antigua conocida del idioma, titulada Arte de la lengua mexicana, fue elaborada por el franciscano fray Andrés de Olmos. Fue concluida el primero de enero de 1547 en el convento de Hueytlalpan, ubicado en el Estado mexicano de Puebla. Destaca el hecho de haber sido desarrollada antes que muchas gramáticas de lenguas europeas como la francesa, y tan sólo 55 años después de la Gramática de la lengua castellana de Antonio de Nebrija.
Escritura
Originalmente se trataba de una escritura pictográfica con rasgos silábicos o fonéticos tipo rebus. Este sistema de escritura fue adecuado para mantener registros tales como genealogías, información astronómica y listas de tributos, pero no representaba el vocabulario total de la lengua hablada de la forma en que los sistemas de escritura del "viejo mundo" o la escritura maya podían hac…
Einordnung Der Sprache und Nahua-Dialekte
Sprachgeschichte
- In der präspanischen Zeit war das Klassische Nahuatl (Mexicahtlahtolli) die wichtigste Sprache des gegenwärtigen Mexiko. Neben dem Mayathan der Maya von Yucatán, das als Schrift- und Verkehrssprache im Kulturraum der Maya diente, war Nahuatl die Lingua franca Mesoamerikas und oft die Wirtschaftssprache innerhalb der Regionen. Selbst bei der Elite des Quiché-Reichs i…
Heutige Soziolinguistische Situation
- Das heutige Nahuatl (Mexicatlatolli oder Mexicano) ist die am meisten gesprochene indigene Sprache in Mexiko. Die Gesamtzahl der Nahuatl-Sprecher nimmt zu, jedoch weniger stark als die Gesamtbevölkerung Mexikos. Nach der Volkszählung 2000 in ganz Mexiko wurde Nahuatl von 1.448.936 Menschen ab 5 Jahren gesprochen – 1,7 % der Mexikaner ab 5 Jahren –, während es …
Phonologie
- Das Nahuatl hat 15 konsonantische sowie jeweils fünf kurze und lange vokalische Phoneme. Typisch für das Nahuatl sind Substantive, die auf „-tl“ enden, wie etwa Popocatepetl, Axolotl, Quetzalcoatl, Xocolatl (Kakaotrank, Trinkschokolade), Tomatl (Tomate), Ahuacatl (Avocado)oder Metl (Agave), wobei das „-tl“ in vielen heutigen Dialekten zu „l“ oder „t“ geworden ist.
Grammatik, Syntax
- Nahuatl ist eine agglutinierende, polysynthetische Sprache mit variabler Satzstellung, die zwischen VSO, VOS und SVOschwanken kann. Ein Wort innerhalb eines Nahuatl-Satzes ist für gewöhnlich aus einem oder mehreren Präfixen, dem oftmals erweiterten Wortstamm und einem oder mehreren Suffixen zusammengesetzt. Die Konjugation richtet sich nicht nur nach dem Subj…
Orthographie
- Bis heute wird das Nahuatl in der Regel in der von den frühen Missionaren (darunter Bernardino de Sahagún) verwendeten, auf der spanischen Rechtschreibung basierenden Orthographie geschrieben. Auch in der Nahuatl-Wikipedia findet sich diese Schreibweise, ergänzt durch das Makron (Strich über den Vokalen zum Anzeigen von Längen). Folgende Buchstaben weichen in i…
Hispanisierung und Indigenismen
- Einfluss des Spanischen auf das Nahuatl
Im Laufe der Kolonialzeit veränderte sich das Klassische Nahuatl (Mexicahtlahtolli) durch den zunehmenden Einfluss des Spanischen erheblich, bis es sich in die heutigen modernen Nahuatl-Dialekte wandelte. Zum einen endete mit der Conquista die Tradition des calmecac, in dem die a… - Spanische Lehnwörter aus dem Nahuatl
Das heutige mexikanische Spanisch sowie das Spanische in Guatemala (teilweise auch Honduras und El Salvador) weist viele Indigenismen, meist aus dem Nahuatl sowie aus den verschiedenen Maya-Sprachen, auf. Insbesondere Substantive (Orts-, Gegenstands-, Tier- sowie Pflanzennamen…
Textbeispiel
- Nican i’cuiliuhtica in itla’tollo in ompa huallaque’ in Mexi’ca’ in itocayo’can Aztlan. Ca anepantla’ in ompa hualehuaque’ ca nauh calpoltin. Auh inic huallamacehuaya acaltica, in quihualtemaya in imacxoyauh. In oncan itocayocan Quinehuayan oztotl. Onca ca in oncan quizque’ chicue calpoltin Übersetzung mit Beibehaltung der Wortfolge: Hier ist aufgeschrieben die Erzählung darüber, vo…
Literatur
- Zeitgenössische Texte
1. Jimmie Durham: Amoxohtli. Libro de Carretera. A Road Book. In Nahuatl und englischer Sprache. Buchhandlung König, Köln 2011, ISBN 3-86560-920-1
Weblinks
- Indigene Sprachen in Mexiko-Stadt. Sprachverlust und Spracherhalt in der MetropoleStudienarbeit von Lena Terhart, FU Berlin, 2007 (PDF)