# Nahuatl: tiquequetzalcoah/tiquetzalcocoah



## AlanEagle

hi all, 

I have just registered to these forums since I could not find any information elsewhere concerning a phrase in Nahuatl and I figured some of you may be of assistance. In James Richard Andrews' "Introduction to Classical Nahuatl" he states that "tiquequetzalcoah" (alternately "tiquetzalcocoah") refers to "we are priests/servants/retainers of Quetzalcoatl. I cannot find any other reference to these terms anywhere, so I was wondering as to their accuracy. Also, what do the prefix "tique/ti" and the suffix "coah/cocoah" mean exactly? I know that coatl is snake, so presumably coah/cocoah is just a pluralization of that, but i have no working knowledge of the language and am merely guessing. Thanks in advance for any help, it is much appreciated!

Also, as an addendum, i have seen Nahuatl place names with various suffixes, -tlan, -co, -huayan, etc. How does one know what suffixes the people who lived here would have used in their own names, presuming they based this decision on the name of their home. What I mean by this is, with a famous example, people from Aztlan being called Azteca. There must be any number of deviations on this; i doubt every name has/had the suffix -teca/tecatl added after it, and would assume it would depend on the name of the place. Would, for example, people from a place called, say, Yōlīhuayān be called Yolīhuayāneca? Or is there a variation or something I am ignorant of (which is more likely!)


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## J.F. de TROYES

AlanEagle said:


> In James Richard Andrews' "Introduction to Classical *Nahuatl*" he states that "tiquequetzalcoah" (alternately "tiquetzalcocoah") refers to "we are priests/servants/retainers of Quetzalcoatl. I cannot find any other reference to these terms anywhere, so I was wondering as to their accuracy. Also, what do the prefix "tique/ti" and the suffix "coah/cocoah" mean exactly? I know that coatl is snake, so presumably coah/cocoah is just a pluralization of that



Hi and welcome on this forum
I am not at all a specialist in Nahuatl, so I am just relying on what I've read and learned. I think this translation is right, as we can parse the phrase this way :
_ti-_  is the plural 1st.person verbal prefix
_quequetzalcoah_ is the plural of _quetzalcoatl_ , formed by duplicating the first consonant and vowel of the noun and replacing the suffix _-tl_ with _-h_, a plural marker , pronounced as a glottal stop in classical Nahuatl ; so : _teōtl_ ( god ) and _tēteoh _( gods ).
The word refers to the god , but also to his priest. More accurately it seems that the plural denotes both priests of quetzalcoatl. So the phrase does mean : _We are the two priests of quetzalcoatl_ .


AlanEagle said:


> Also, as an addendum, i have seen Nahuatl place names with various suffixes, -tlan, -co, -huayan, etc. How does one know what suffixes the people who lived here would have used in their own names, presuming they based this decision on the name of their home. What I mean by this is, with a famous example, people from Aztlan being called Azteca. There must be any number of deviations on this; i doubt every name has/had the suffix -teca/tecatl added after it, and would assume it would depend on the name of the place. Would, for example, people from a place called, say, Yōlīhuayān be called Yolīhuayāneca? Or is there a variation or something I am ignorant of (which is more likely!)


Nahuatl uses postpositions that can be used in place names as well. As in any language toponyms are expressions fixed by usage and whatever its formation, it can't be altered by anybody, and it's the same for how inhabitants are named. Besides some of these adjunctions are rather suffixes : _-tlan_ is said not to be used as a postposition in usual Nahuatl , hence it's impossible to add it to any noun. Anyhow all these particles generally denote a place ( locative suffixes or postpositions ) : _-c(o) _means_ in_ , _-tlan_ means _near_ and by adding _ti-_ either _between_ or _under _(the reign of). So _Mexico Tenochtitlan_ means _Mexico (founded) under (the reign of) Tenoch ._


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## AlanEagle

Thanks for the reply, I just need some clarification, if it's possible. What do you mean by "fixed by usage and whatever its formation, it can't be altered by anybody"? Thanks


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## J.F. de TROYES

I am reading your answer again and I see I've misunderstood its beginning, so don't take  into account these words that refer to place names and not to people names. About these last ones I think I agree with you ; I believe Aztlan / Azteca(h) can't be considered  an example following a grammatical pattern used to turn a place name into a people name. Besides I am unsure if there is an -eca suffix in Nahuatl ; more examples should be found to make it sure.


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## HUMBERT0

J.F. de TROYES said:


> Besides I am unsure if there is an -eca suffix in Nahuatl ; more examples should be found to make it sure.


I think that –eca is the way Nahuatl words entered in Spanish, they lost the ending *tl *part in *ecatl*. In Spanish with don’t pronounce the *tl *ending of words. Toltecatl is said in Spanish Tolteca, Tlaxcaltecatl is Tlaxcalteca, chichimeca, etc.


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## J.F. de TROYES

Thanks for the insight, Humberto. So Azteca comes from Aztecatl, and not from Aztecah, the plural form.


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## HUMBERT0

*Tolteca=Toltecatl* (Nahuatl for "the Toltec")
Chichimeca=Nahuatl name _Chīchīmēcah_ (plural); singular _Chīchīmēcatl_)
Azteca=Nahuatl: _aztēcah_, plural of _aztēcatl_ 'person from _Aztlān_ (Aztlán).

Well come think about it I don’t know if it comes from the plural or singular form, when I mentioned the singular I forgot to consider it may come from the plural form, so I’m not sure which is it. 
The thing I do now, is that often in México we pronounce names and places of Native American origin(in this case Nahuatl) with a Spanish way of speaking and spelling, and not how they would sound in their original language. So I think probably many -eca ending words found in books could be a Hispanicization of Nahuatl words. For example a popular name spelled Xochitl in Spanish the “x” is pronounced with an “s - ese” at the beginning and the “t” is never pronounced by non speaking Nahuatl speakers, Xicoténcatl the”x” is pronounced with a “j - jota” and the “t” is not pronounced”.


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## AlJaahil

I believe _Azteca_ etc. do come from the plural - the use of _h_ to indicate the glottal stop is a modern adaptation of (the systematized version of) the traditional spelling, which indicated neither the glottal stop nor vowel length, because the Spanish found these features of the language almost impossible to detect. What is spelled _Aztecah_ (or _Aztēcah_ with the 'e' marked long) was spelled _Azteca_ at the time. 

Also, per Andrews, changing -_tlan_ (-_tlān_) in a place name to singular/plural -_tecatl_/-_tecah_ (-_tēcatl_/-_tēcah_) is a normal way to form ethnonyms. The _Aztēcah_ came from _Aztlān_, an inhabitant of _Mazātlān_ is a _Mazātēcatl_, etc.

I'm simplifying Andrews' analysis to some degree. Also, you'll notice that with only a couple of exceptions _tl_ simply represents _t_ before _a_. The only exceptions I can think of are the noun suffix -_tl(i)_, which was once -_tla_; the verbstem -_itta_ 'see, look, watch' (the only stem or particle containing _ta_ I've ever seen), which is an irregular assimilation; and the words _tletl_ 'fire' and _tleh_ 'what' - but compare _tlatla_ 'be on 'fire' and _itlah_ 'something'.


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