Aztec language (general information). Aztec language Nahuatl language

From the compilers

We present these draft notes that were compiled in class during the course of Teacher Genaro Medina Ramos….

These notes do not attempt to create (or replace) either a grammar or a universal vocabulary of Nahuatl. Rather, it is a reflection of the use of the language as it was spoken in the late 20th century in communities around Cholula and on the slopes of the Iztaxihuatl volcano, in the area where the teacher lives.

We learned new words from across the course, sometimes as groups of words around a topic, and sometimes as words we needed to express a concept. We include these words in two places, in layers of words on specific topics (eg, body words, colors, etc.) and also in dictionaries that serve as supplements to these notes. In the dictionaries we include all the words that we learned during the course.

Señor Medina also gives an advanced course in which he uses the most advanced grammar and literature. Unfortunately, we were not able to attend the extended course. Therefore, these notes refer to the basic Nahuatl course.

As in any course, students may have poor understanding or make mistakes when they try to take notes during lecture. In any case, these notes do not contain too serious errors of this kind, but still we accept full responsibility for any error that is in them (the notes).

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Nahuatl, Nahua, language of the Aztec people (See Aztecs) , which is spoken by about 800 thousand people. (1969, assessment). Belongs to the Uto-Aztecan group of languages. Distributed in Mexico, presumably from the 6th century. (associated with the emergence of the Nahua tribe). In the 14th-16th centuries. - the language of the Aztec civilization with the beginnings of writing (pictography with elements of hieroglyphics), in the 16th-18th centuries. - the language of Christian and secular literature with Latin script. For classic A. i. 15-17 centuries and a number of modern dialects are characterized by the lateral affricate tl, glottal stop, rounded k w . Inflection is carried out by suffixes, prefixes and doubling of the initial syllable. The name differs in the unmarked form (with suffixes -tli, -tl, -n, etc.), plural, distribution (for many single objects), possessive forms (no-siwa̅-w “my wife” from siw

Lit.: Simeon R., Dictionnaire de la langue nahuati, ou mexicaine, P., 1885; Swadesh M. y Sancho M., Los mil elementos del mexicano clasico, Mexico, 1966. ,

A. B. Dolgopolsky.

Meanings in other dictionaries

Azcapotzalco

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Aztecs

(self-name - Asteca) is the largest Indian people in Mexico. Number of people: about 800 thousand people. (1969, assessment). The language of A. - Nahuatl, belongs to the large group of Uto-Aztecan languages. In the 12th century A., who came with S., invaded the Valley of Mexico City and settled in it; in the 14th century founded the settlement of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City). In 1427, A., in alliance with the city-states of Texcoco and Tlacopan, subjugated...

Achadi

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AZTEC LANGUAGE

(yahuatl) is one of the Indian languages, included in the Tano-Aztecan family (see Tano-Aztecan languages). E. Sapir classifies it as Azteca, a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. N. A. McQuown includes A. i. in the highlighted nm Koran. subgroup, K.L. Heil and C.F. Woeglin admit that it belongs to the tarakaita group. Distributed in Mexico, ch. arr. between Mexico City and Tuxtla Gutierrez. Number of speakers St. 1 million people There are 3 groups of dialects: Nau-atl (characterized by the replacement of the original Uto-Aztecan t with the phonemic combination tl in the prevocalic position), Nahual (the phonemic combination tl is replaced by phoneme 1), Nahuat (the original t is preserved). Phonological the system as a whole exhibits features of the Pacific type. The presence of affricates is specific to consonantism, including the lateral affricate tl, glottal stop, labialized k"; A. Ya. has the longest series of plosive consonants of all Uto-Aztecan languages. Vocalism is relatively poorly developed (i, e, a , o). The morphology is agglutinative with moderately developed polysythem. In inflection and word formation, affixation (the main form is suffixation), reduplication, and the combination of whole words into a single word complex (totolin "chicken", tell "stone", akhsaSh "egg" - are widely used). > totoltolaxcalli "fried eggs"). Postpositions are widely used in the vocabulary. Before the conquest, L. was the language of the Aztec civilization, it is assumed that it was spoken by about 6. million people During the heyday of the Aztec empire (14th-16th centuries), pictographic writing with elements of hieroglyphics developed (see Aztec writing) based on Latin graphics (16th century). Numerous appear in the 17th and 18th centuries. works, ch. arr. ist., religious and philosopher character. In the 20th century And I. used in elementary schools, textbooks, specials are published on it. literature for reading (readers, collections of folklore, etc.). O Wagga y Valenzuela P.. Los Nahoas. Historia, vida y lengua, Mekh., 1953; Garibay K i n t a n a A. M.. Llave del nahuatl. 2 ed., Mekh., 1961; V o e g e-lin C F.. Voegelin F. M., Hale K. L., Typological and comparative grammar of Uto-Aztecan, 1, Bait., 1962; Sandoval R., Arte de la lengua mexi-cana, Mekh.. 1965; S w a d e s h M., S a n-c h o M., Los mil elementos de mexicano clasico, Mekh., 1966; Gonzalez Casanova P., Estudios de linguistica y filolo-gia nahuas, Mekh., 1977; With 1 a v i j e g about F. J., Reglas de la lengua mexicana con un vocabulary, Fur.. 1974. Cantares Mexicanos, v. 2, A Nahuatl-English dictionary, Stanford (Cal.), 1985. Yu. V. Vannikov.

Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. 2012

See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what the AZTEC LANGUAGE is in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:

• AZTEC LANGUAGE
  (Nahuatl) belongs to the Tano-Aztecan family of Indian languages. In the 14th-16th centuries. pictographic writing, from the 16th century. - based on Latin...
• AZTEC LANGUAGE in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
  language, Nahuatl, Nahua, the language of the Aztec people, spoken by about 800 thousand people. (1969, assessment). Belongs to the Utoaztec group...
• AZTEC LANGUAGE
  (Nahuatl), belongs to the Tano-Aztecan family of Indian languages. In the 14th-16th centuries. pictographic writing, from the 16th century. - based on Latin...
• LANGUAGE in Wiki Quotebook:
  Data: 2008-10-12 Time: 10:20:50 * Language is also of great importance because with its help we can hide our...
• LANGUAGE in the Dictionary of Thieves' Slang:
  - investigator, operative...
• LANGUAGE in Miller's Dream Book, dream book and interpretation of dreams:
  If in a dream you see your own tongue, it means that soon your friends will turn away from you. If in a dream you see...
• LANGUAGE in the Newest Philosophical Dictionary:
  a complex developing semiotic system, which is a specific and universal means of objectifying the content of both individual consciousness and cultural tradition, providing the opportunity...
• LANGUAGE in the Dictionary of Postmodernism:
  - a complex developing semiotic system, which is a specific and universal means of objectifying the content of both individual consciousness and cultural tradition, providing...
• LANGUAGE
  OFFICIAL - see OFFICIAL LANGUAGE...
• LANGUAGE in the Dictionary of Economic Terms:
  STATE - see STATE LANGUAGE...
• LANGUAGE in the Encyclopedia Biology:
  , an organ in the oral cavity of vertebrates that performs the functions of transportation and taste analysis of food. The structure of the tongue reflects the specific nutrition of animals. U...
• LANGUAGE in the Brief Church Slavonic Dictionary:
  , pagans 1) people, tribe; 2) language, ...
• LANGUAGE in the Bible Encyclopedia of Nikephoros:
  like speech or adverb. “The whole earth had one language and one dialect,” says the writer of everyday life (Gen. 11:1-9). A legend about one...
• LANGUAGE in the Lexicon of Sex:
  multifunctional organ located in the oral cavity; pronounced erogenous zone of both sexes. With the help of Ya, orogenital contacts of various kinds are carried out...
• LANGUAGE in Medical terms:
  (lingua, pna, bna, jna) a muscular organ covered with a mucous membrane located in the oral cavity; participates in chewing, articulation, contains taste buds; ...
• LANGUAGE in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  ..1) natural language, the most important means of human communication. Language is inextricably linked with thinking; is a social means of storing and transmitting information, one...
• LANGUAGE in the Modern Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  
• LANGUAGE in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  1) natural language, the most important means of human communication. Language is inextricably linked with thinking; it is a social means of storing and transmitting information, one...
• LANGUAGE in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  2, -a, pl. -i, -ov, m. 1. Historically developed system of sound, vocabulary and grammatical means, objectifying the work of thinking and being ...
• AZTEC in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  , oh, oh. 1. see Aztecs. 2. Relating to the Aztecs, their language, way of life, culture, as well as territory ...
• LANGUAGE
  MACHINE LANGUAGE, see Machine language...
• LANGUAGE in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  LANGUAGE, natural language, the most important means of human communication. Self is inextricably linked with thinking; is a social means of storing and transmitting information, one...
• LANGUAGE in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  TONGUE (anat.), in terrestrial vertebrates and humans, a muscular outgrowth (in fish, a fold of the mucous membrane) at the bottom of the oral cavity. Participates in …
• AZTEC in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  AZTEC LANGUAGE (Nahuatl), belongs to the Tano-Aztecan family of Indian languages. In the 14th-16th centuries. pictographic letter, from the 16th century - based on Lat. ...
• LANGUAGE
  languages"to, languages", languages", language"in, language", language"m, languages", language"in, language"m, languages"mi, language", ...
• LANGUAGE in the Complete Accented Paradigm according to Zaliznyak:
  languages"k, languages", languages", language"in, language", language"m, languages"k, languages", language"m, languages"mi, language", ...
• LANGUAGE in the Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  - the main object of study of linguistics. By Ya, first of all, we mean natural. human self (in opposition to artificial languages ​​and ...
• LANGUAGE in the Dictionary of Linguistic Terms:
  1) A system of phonetic, lexical and grammatical means, which is a tool for expressing thoughts, feelings, expressions of will and serves as the most important means of communication between people. Being...
• LANGUAGE in the Popular Explanatory Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Language.
• LANGUAGE
  "My Enemy" in...
• LANGUAGE in the Dictionary for solving and composing scanwords:
  Weapon …
• LANGUAGE in Abramov's Dictionary of Synonyms:
  dialect, dialect, dialect; syllable, style; people. See people || the talk of the town See spy || master the tongue, restrain the tongue, ...
• AZTEC in the New Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language by Efremova:
  adj. 1) Related to the Aztecs, associated with them. 2) Characteristic of the Aztecs, characteristic of them. 3) Belonging...
• AZTEC in Lopatin's Dictionary of the Russian Language.
• AZTEC in the Complete Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language.
• AZTEC in the Spelling Dictionary.
• LANGUAGE in Ozhegov’s Dictionary of the Russian Language:
  1 movable muscular organ in the oral cavity that perceives taste sensations; in humans, it is also involved in articulation. Licking with the tongue. Try on...
• LANGUAGE in Dahl's Dictionary:
  husband. a fleshy projectile in the mouth that serves to line the teeth with food, to recognize its taste, as well as for verbal speech, or, ...
• LANGUAGE in the Modern Explanatory Dictionary, TSB:
  ,..1) natural language, the most important means of human communication. Language is inextricably linked with thinking; is a social means of storing and transmitting information, one...
• LANGUAGE in Ushakov’s Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language:
  language (book language, obsolete, only in 3, 4, 7 and 8 characters), m. 1. An organ in the oral cavity in the form of ...
• AZTEC in Ephraim's Explanatory Dictionary:
  Aztec adj. 1) Related to the Aztecs, associated with them. 2) Characteristic of the Aztecs, characteristic of them. 3) Belonging...
• AZTEC in the New Dictionary of the Russian Language by Efremova:
  
• AZTEC in the Large Modern Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language:
  adj. 1. Related to the Aztecs, associated with them. 2. Characteristic of the Aztecs, characteristic of them. 3. Belonging...
• MEXICO in the Directory of Countries of the World:
  UNITED STATES State in North America. In the north and east it borders with the United States of America, in the south - with ...
• Aztecs in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  (Asteca Nahua), Indian people in Mexico. 1.2 million people (1992). Aztec language. Believers are Catholics. Until the 16th century in the territory …

AZTEC LANGUAGES, a group of Indian languages ​​in Mexico and El Salvador, one of the main groups of the Uto-Aztecan language family. In total, in the Uto-Aztec family, according to different classifications, there are from 3 to 9 groups. On the basis of territoriality, three groups are often distinguished: Shoshone languages, common in the United States - in the Great Basin and the Southwest, Sonoran languages, common in northwestern Mexico and the surrounding areas of the United States, and Aztec languages. The Aztec group is divided into three subgroups - the extinct Pochutec language in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, the endangered Pipil language in El Salvador, and the Nahuatl group, or Aztec languages ​​proper. Among Aztec proper, the now dead classical Nahuatl (= Aztec; Mexican; Nahuatl) stands out - the language of the Aztec empire, conquered by the Spaniards in the 16th century. In addition, there are 26 modern Nahuatl languages ​​spoken in central Mexico, with speakers ranging from a few to several hundred thousand people, and a total of ca. 1.4 million people. The largest of these languages ​​are: Eastern Huastec Nahuatl (about 410 thousand speakers), Western Huastec Nahuatl (about 400 thousand), Guerrera Nahuatl (about 300 thousand). Although these are all different languages, the collective use of "Nahuatl language" is often found, including classical Nahuatl and all modern varieties. The social status of Aztec languages ​​is low. Prospects for survival vary among languages; many of them are already extinct or are on the verge of extinction.

Aztec languages ​​have been studied since the mid-16th century, when the first grammar of classical Nahuatl was published. For a long time, Nahuatl was described only by Christian missionaries. At the beginning of the 19th century. One of the Nahuatl languages ​​was studied by the German linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt. Currently, many of the Aztec languages ​​are well documented and taught in schools.

From the beginning of the 15th century, about 100 years before the Spanish Conquest, the Aztecs began to use hieroglyphic, mainly ideographic, writing, which arose under the influence of the Mixtec script; the latter, in turn, goes back to the writing of the Zapotec Indians, who borrowed the idea and basic principles of writing from the Olmecs and possibly from the Mayans ( cm. MAYAN LANGUAGES). Later, the Aztecs developed some elements of phonetic writing, especially when writing names. Currently, Latin-based writing has been developed for many Aztec languages.

Aztec languages ​​are highly synthetic and have accusative sentence construction.

In the Russian language there are a number of indirect borrowings from the Nahuatl language, which came through the Spanish and English (or French) languages: tomato, chocolate, avocado, coyote, ocelot. For example, the word chocolate comes from Aztec xocolatl"bitter water"

Andrey Kibrik

Aztecs, Mayans, Incas. Great Kingdoms of Ancient America Hagen Victor von

Language

The Aztecs spoke Nahuatl (pronounced na-wa-tl).

They did not invent it, did not improve it, since the Toltecs, Chichimecs and many other tribes already spoke this language. But Nahuatl became the language of the empire of communication in Mexico and Central America (just as Quechua became the language of the Incas in Peru) after the Aztec conquest of some regions and thanks to Aztec merchants, that is, trade with other regions. And when this language was subsequently brought to the Spanish orthography, it received further development thanks to the church, which used it to translate the fundamentals of Christian doctrine in the form of questions and answers and other religious books, thus expanding the scope of its application.

Nahuatl is part of the Nahua group, one of the eight language groups of the Uto-Aztecan language system. It, especially the Aztec language, has been studied in more detail than "any other group of languages ​​in the Americas." This was done mainly thanks to the late B.L. Horfu, who was not a professional. The Nahuatl language is related to some languages ​​of the Indians who lived in the southwest of the mainland (Pima, Shoshone, Sonoran tribes), which is why some believe that the Aztecs were a warlike tribe of people from this region. There are 700 languages ​​in Mexico; The Nahuatl language, whose area of ​​distribution was limited to the central plateau but was expanded following the conquests of the Aztecs, belongs to one of the five large groups that make up the Penuti macrofamily of languages. Its study is very limited, and people studying it use technical terms among themselves and in their publications that are never used in normal communication. If a non-specialist happens to read a work on “The Origin of the Suffix - aphids in the language of the Aztecs" (the reader will often encounter this suffix throughout the pages of this book), then he will be just as confused as Alice in Wonderland when she saw the smile of the Cheshire Cat.

Nahuatl is a living language. Thousands of people still speak it, books have been written in it, and music has been recorded in it; some prominent scientists in Mexico speak it; it is very alive and flexible, which will be seen when considering the classification of wild plants of the Aztecs (see the section “Medicinal Plants”). This language was as complex as the ideographic writing of the Aztecs; It was possible to express strong feelings and write poetry on it. And although the first Spaniards considered the suffix - aphids confusing, experts in the 16th century who mastered this language found it clear and harmonious, with a considerable vocabulary.

While there is no space here to discuss the grammar of the Aztec language, we have noted that it contained what one author has called "linguistic table manners." Our modern grammar was formed shortly before the Reformation; before that, there had been a living indifference to syntax and spelling. This is why it is so surprising to find a people like the American Indians, living so far from the communication network of the Old World, who created a language with such a complex grammar. It contained derivations and splices "arising from context, and pronunciation without regard to meaning"; the natural result of this was agglutination. It is not known what the Aztecs added to their inherited Nahuatl language, but nevertheless this addition was probably significant, because as a result of their wars of conquest a stream of new things poured into the Aztec world, and they must have had some kind of then a rigid grammar to accept them into your language with the help of personal and temporal endings. One of the first books published in Mexico (in 1555) was a dictionary compiled by Motolinia. Grammaries, catechisms, and translations of texts from the ideographic language of Nahuatl into Spanish orthography followed century after century, until at present they were sufficient for a serious study of “Aztec literature.”

Aztec speech masehualli was as earthly as the speech of a person from a plow in any other place; practical and careless in conversation, he built his speech, which grew out of necessity, which is the living morphology of any language. Ordinary people did not attach much importance to suffixes, endings of person, number, case and gender; but in schools calmecac Mexico City-Tenochtitlan, where they taught how to speak the Nahuatl language correctly, corrected errors in speech and expanded the vocabulary so that high-ranking officials could properly speak to the gods or impress visiting leaders; The Nahuatl language was carefully studied here. That's how it should have been. Those informants who, together with the first Spaniards, were engaged in recording various texts in the Nahuatl language, knew the grammar of your language. An example will suffice: when in 1529 Sahagún began to record the Aztec legends that had been preserved in his memory, he, using his own orthography, wrote in Nahuatl about the sun, the main god of the year, thus:

Tonatiuh [sun] quautlevanitl

Xippilli, nteutl [god]

Tone, tlaextia motonameyotia,

Tontoqui, tetlati, tetkaati, teytoni, teixlileuh,

Teixtilo, teixcaputzo, teixtlecaleuh.

Sun, eagle, fiery arrow,

Ruler of the year, god

It illuminates, makes everything sparkle, illuminates everything with its rays.

It gives heat, burns people, makes them sweat,

Makes people's skin color dark, gives them a tan,

Makes them black like smoke.

In the Nahuatl language you could express a lot in a few words. And, despite the fact that this language was not as widespread from a geographical point of view as the Quechua language in Peru, which spread for the same reasons, that is, due to the conquest of the Incas in territories from Chile to Colombia, the Aztec language penetrated quite far, from Mexico to Nicaragua.

Language I can’t say anything about the Swedish language: I simply don’t know it. But Charlotte Davitt believes that it is expedient and economical. As an example, she cites cases where the same word has different, sometimes opposite, meanings. For example, "hey" depending