Ancient Aztec Civilization Warfare and Expansion Tenochtitlan Daily Life: Yautepec.
Ancient Scripts_ Aztec
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10/10/14 Ancient Scripts: Aztec 1/16 www.ancientscripts.com/aztec.html Search GO Topics Introduction Origins Types Families Regions Timeline A to Z Related Scripts Teotihuacan Mixtec Mesoamerican Writing Systems Related Links GB Online"s Ancient Mesoamerican Writing Nombres Geográficos de México Aztec Calendar Mexica/Aztec Calendar Systems Prehispanic Calendars Nahuatl Culture Codex Mendoza Images from Codex Mendoza Aztecs on History.com Aztec Quick Facts Type Logophonetic Genealogy Mesoamerican Location Americas > Mesoamerica Time 1400 CE to 1600 CE Direction Variable The Aztecs, or Mexica as they called themselves, were the elite of a militaristic empire centered at Central Mexico when the Spanish conquistadores landed in America at the beginning of the 16th century CE. The Aztecs originated in the semiarid environments of northern Mexico as one of the many barbarian or "Chichimec" tribes. When they arrived at the fertile Valley of Mexico at 14th century CE, they found the land already settled and divided by city states. They built their city, Tenochtitlan, in the marshes of Lake Texcoco, and quickly adopted much of the culture of their new neighbors. As a result, the Aztecs adopted a writing system that had been used for many centuries before and shared by many of the other nations of Central Mexico. The language that the Aztec spoke was called Nahuatl. It was also the language of the majority of the people in Central Mexico and a lingua franca in large parts of Mesoamerica. The origin of Nahuatl writing is poorly understood. It most resembles Mixtec writing in that both use dots for numbers less than twenty (in contrast to the baranddot notation used in Maya and Zapotec ), share similar construction style of compound signs, and place emphasis on short texts that rely on painted scenes for narratives instead of longer texts. It is thought that Mixtec writing influenced Nahuatl writing, but both are possibly influenced by earlier writing systems of cities such as Xochicalco, Cacaxtla, and the even more ancient Teotihuacan. Nahuatl writing was primary written on perishable media such as deerskin and paper codices. Due to ravages of time and purposeful destruction of books by both the Aztecs and the Spanish conquistadores, no preColumbian book has survived to the modern age. All surviving documents containing Nahuatl writing were composed after the Conquest and contained a mixture of Aztec glyphs and Spanish notes. There are a few codices made before the Conquest from the Puebla region in a somewhat different style known as the "international" MixtecaPuebla, style, but their exact relationship to either Aztec or Mixtec writing is still somewhat obscure. General Overview Nahuatl writing had three primary functions, namely to mark calendrical dates, to record accounting mathematical calculations, and to write names of people and places. No continuous texts like those of the Maya , EpiOlmec , or even Zapotec writing system has been be found. As noted earlier, pictorial representation of events are used in lieu of long texts to record history. Like other Mesoamerican scripts, the core of Nahuatl writing consists of a set of calendrical signs and a vigesimal number system. The most important calendrical cycle observed by the Aztecs was the 260day sacred calendar, called tonalpohualli in Nahuatl. The tonalpohualli is essentially two parallel and interlocking cycles, one of 20 days (represented by "day signs"), and one of 13 days (represented by numbers called "coefficients"). The following are the 20 day signs in the Aztec sacred calendar. The Nahuatl names are in red, and their meanings in English are in blue. Writing Systems Phonetics Historical Linguistics Interactive Resources Social About
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Transcript of Ancient Scripts_ Aztec
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Topics
IntroductionOriginsTypesFamiliesRegionsTimelineAtoZ
RelatedScripts
TeotihuacanMixtecMesoamericanWritingSystems
RelatedLinks
GBOnline"sAncientMesoamericanWritingNombresGeográficosdeMéxicoAztecCalendarMexica/AztecCalendarSystemsPrehispanicCalendarsNahuatlCultureCodexMendozaImagesfromCodexMendozaAztecsonHistory.com
Aztec
QuickFacts
Type Logophonetic
Genealogy Mesoamerican
Location Americas>Mesoamerica
Time 1400CEto1600CE
Direction Variable
TheAztecs,orMexicaastheycalledthemselves,weretheeliteofamilitaristicempirecenteredatCentralMexicowhentheSpanishconquistadores landedinAmericaat thebeginningof the16thcenturyCE.TheAztecs originated in the semiarid environments of northern Mexico as one of the many barbarian or"Chichimec" tribes.When they arrivedat the fertileValley ofMexico at 14th centuryCE, they found thelandalreadysettledanddividedbycitystates.Theybuilt theircity,Tenochtitlan, in themarshesofLakeTexcoco,andquicklyadoptedmuchofthecultureoftheirnewneighbors.Asaresult,theAztecsadoptedawritingsystemthathadbeenusedformanycenturiesbeforeandsharedbymanyoftheothernationsofCentralMexico.
The language that the Aztec spoke was called Nahuatl. It was also the language of themajority of thepeopleinCentralMexicoandalinguafrancainlargepartsofMesoamerica.TheoriginofNahuatlwritingispoorlyunderstood.ItmostresemblesMixtecwritinginthatbothusedotsfornumberslessthantwenty(incontrast to the baranddot notation used in Maya and Zapotec), share similar construction style ofcompoundsigns,andplaceemphasisonshort texts that relyonpaintedscenes fornarratives insteadoflongertexts.ItisthoughtthatMixtecwritinginfluencedNahuatlwriting,butbotharepossiblyinfluencedbyearlierwritingsystemsofcitiessuchasXochicalco,Cacaxtla,andtheevenmoreancientTeotihuacan.
Nahuatl writing was primary written on perishable media such as deerskin and paper codices. Due toravagesof timeandpurposefuldestructionofbooksbyboth theAztecsandtheSpanishconquistadores,nopreColumbianbookhassurvivedtothemodernage.AllsurvivingdocumentscontainingNahuatlwritingwerecomposedaftertheConquestandcontainedamixtureofAztecglyphsandSpanishnotes.Therearea fewcodicesmadebefore theConquest from thePuebla region inasomewhatdifferentstyleknownasthe"international"MixtecaPuebla,style,buttheirexactrelationshiptoeitherAztecorMixtecwritingisstillsomewhatobscure.
GeneralOverview
Nahuatl writing had three primary functions, namely to mark calendrical dates, to record accountingmathematicalcalculations,andtowritenamesofpeopleandplaces.NocontinuoustextslikethoseoftheMaya, EpiOlmec, or even Zapotec writing system has been be found. As noted earlier, pictorialrepresentationofeventsareusedinlieuoflongtextstorecordhistory.
LikeotherMesoamericanscripts, thecoreofNahuatlwritingconsistsofa setof calendrical signsandavigesimalnumbersystem.Themost importantcalendricalcycleobservedbytheAztecswasthe260daysacredcalendar,calledtonalpohualliinNahuatl.Thetonalpohualliisessentiallytwoparallelandinterlockingcycles,oneof20days (representedby "daysigns"),andoneof13days (representedbynumberscalled"coefficients").Thefollowingarethe20daysignsintheAztecsacredcalendar.TheNahuatlnamesareinred,andtheirmeaningsinEnglishareinblue.
WritingSystems Phonetics HistoricalLinguistics Interactive Resources Social About
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Adateinthetonalpohualliiscomposedofadaysignandandacoefficient.So,forexample,thefirstdayinthe260daycyclewouldbe1Cipactli.Asboth theday signand the coefficientmoves forward, thenextdaywouldbe2Ehecatl.Thisgoesonuntil13Acatl is reached,atwhichpoint thecoefficientcycle loopsbackto1,andhencethenextdaywouldbe1Ocelotl.Similarly,uponreachingthelastdaysignonday7Xochitl,thedaysigncyclegoesbacktothefirstsign,andthenextdaywouldbe8Cipactl.
TheAztecshada365daysolarcalendarcalledxiuhpohualli,whichconsistedof18monthsof20days,andanunlucky5dayperiodattheendoftheyear.However,theyrarelyrecordeddatesinthesolarcalendaronmanuscripts,andneveronmonuments.
In addition, like otherMesoamerican cultures, the Aztecs also employed theCalendarRound, a 52yearperiodcreatedby interlocking the260dayand365daycycles.Ayear in theCalendarRoundwasnamedbythetonalpohuallinameoflastdayofthelastmonthinthexiuhpohualliforthatyear.Becauseofthewaythemathworkedout,onlyfourdaysigns,namelyCalli,Tochtli,Acatl,andTecpatl,couldbepartofayear'sname,andhencetheywerecalled"yearbearers".Accompanyingtheyearbearerswerecoefficients,whichcould range from1 to13.TodistinguishCalendarRoundyears fromdays in the260daycalendar,yearsglyphs were drawn inside rectangular "cartouches". A good example occurs in the Codex TellerianoRemensis, a document written after the Spanish Conquest but at a time when knowledge of the preColumbian culturewas still available. In this document,Aztec years are correlated toWesternGregorianyears.
As you have probably gathered by now, Aztec numbers are represented by long sequences of dots. Ingeneral,theAztecsalmostexclusivelyuseddotsonmanuscriptsaswellasonstonemonuments,butthemoreancientbaranddotsystemdoesmakerareappearancesoncarvedmonumentsaswell,primarilydueto artistic consideration. The dot system, while feasible for calendrical use (since no number will everexceed20),wasimpossiblewhendealingwithaccounting,especiallysincetheAztecEmpirehadtorecordlarge amounts of tribute frequently demanded from its provinces. The Codex Mendoza, another postConquestmanuscript, depicted life in CentralMexico around the time of conquest and also contained asectiononthetributeexactedbytheEmpire.Tocount items inexcessof20efficiently, theAztecsusedglyphsforthenumbers20(aflag),400(afeather),and8000(abagofincense).
Forexample, thenumber500wouldbeafeatherandfiveflags(400+5x20=500).To indicate that themultipleglyphs forminganumberbelong toasinglesigngroup,a line isdrawn toconnectall theglyphs.Thelineisthenconnectedtotheobjectitiscounting.
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ThepreviousexamplesaretakenfromtheCodexMendoza,andtheyprovideboththeAztecandSpanishversionsoftheinformationtheyareconveying.Ontheleft,youcanseetheabundletoppedbyaseriesoffive flags, which is the number 100 (5 x 20), and is reflected by the Spanish caption "çient cargas decacao",meaning"100 loadsofcacaobeans". In themiddle, theAztecrepresentation is thatof four flagsandabird,whichismirroedintheSpanishcaption"ochentapielesdepajarosdestecolor",or"80peltsofbirdsof thiscolor".And finally, on the right, thecaption "ccccmanojodeplumascoloradas"meant "400bundlesof red feathers" and is shown inAztecasa schematic, black feather (400)with a bundleof redfeathers.
Logograms
Inadditiontocalendricalandnumericsigns,anumberofhighlypictoriallogogramswereusedtowritedownpersonalnames,namesofplaces,andhistoricalevents.Forexample,therearemanyrecordsoftheAztecarmyconqueringothercitiesdocumentedintheCodexMendoza.Toshowthatacityhasbeenconquered,thecity'snameiswrittennext to the"conquered"glyphwhich isa temple(pyramid) insmokeandflameswith its top toppling over. In the following example, the ancient cities Colhuacan and Tenayucan wereshowntobeconquered.And todrive thepointhome,Aztecwarriorsareshownwith captives taken fromtheseconqueredcities.
The Nahuatl language is polysynthetic, which means that compound words and long phrases areconstructedfromrootsandaffixes.Reflectingthischaracteristic,Aztecnamesareoftenwrittenasgroupsofhighlypictorial logograms thatmakeup the rootsof thename.Theglyphsare joined togetherorevensometimescombined intoasingleglyph(aprocesscalledconflation) toshowthat theyformacompoundword.Thefollowingareanumberofexamplesoflogogramsformingglyphblocks.Notethatlogogramsaretranscribedusingbolduppercaselettersintheirrootforms,meaningtheunchangingpartoftheword.AlsonotethatNahuatlnounsaretranscribedinitalicizedlowercaselettersintheabsolutivecase,whichistherootplusanendingofeithertl, tli,or li.While too longer toexplainhere, theabsolutivecase inNahuatlcanbethoughtasthesingularsubjectofasentence.
Chilapanmeans"AbovetheRiverofChiles"andgraphicallyiscomposedoftwoglyphs.Thered(presumablyhot)chilepepperglyphisthelogogramCHIL,whichrepresentstheNahuatlrootchilli("chile").TheotherglyphisastylizedcrosssectionofariverwhichisthelogogramforAPAN,standingfortheNahuatlrootapan("river").
Macuilxochiciscomposedoftherootsmacuilli("five",representedbyfivedots),xochitl("flower",representedbythelogogramXOCHI),andthesuffixc("place")whichisomitted.Notethatingeneral,suffixesthatmeaning"placeof",or"near"suchasc,co,andcanareusuallyomittedfromwriting,likelyconsideredimplicitbyAztecscribes.Macuilxochicthereforemeans"PlaceofFiveFlowers",orinotherwords,aplacededicatedtothegodMacuilxochitlor"FiveFlowers"whoisalsoknownasXochipilli,thepatronofartsintheAztecpantheon.
OcelotepeccontainsaglyphintheformofawildcatheadthatstandsforthelogogramOSELO(ocelotl,"ocelot")andthehillglyphTEPE(tepetl,"hill").Onceagainthegrammaticalendingcisomitted.Togethertheglyphsmeans"PlaceofOcelotHill".
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Xochimilcomeansthethe"PlaceofFlowerFields",fromXOCHI(xochitl,"flower"),MIL(milli,"sownfield"),andomittedsuffixco("place").NowadaysthisisahistoricalregionofMexicoCitythatstillpreservesthecanalandmanmadeislandsofthelakethatoncecoveredmodernMexicoCity.
Ilhuicamina,fromILWIKA(ilhuicatl,"sky")andMI(mina,"lance","arrow"),meaning"HeWhoShootsanArrowintotheSky",isthenameofthefifthAztecemperor(alsoknownasMoctezumaI).NotethatthelogogramILWIKA"sky"isrepresentedbythebandcontainingstars(thewhitedots)andthesymbolforVenus.
Chimalpopocaiscomposedoftwologograms,CHIMAL(chimalli,"shield")andPOPOKA(popocac,"smoking"),whichtogethermeans"SmokingShield"andisthenameofthethirdMexicaemperor.
AtemoztlicontainsA(atl,"water")plusconjugatedformoftheverbtemoa("fall","descent")toyield"DescentoftheWaters",isthenameofthe16thAztec"month"oftwentydays.NotethatthetempleinthiscaseispartofthelogogramTEMO.
Ehecatlapechcomeans"PlaceoftheAltarofEhecatl"andiscomposedofthelogogramsE'EKA(ehecatl,"wind",representedbybeardedmask)andTLAPECH(tlapechtli,"altar"),andomittedsuffixco.
RebusWriting
While a lot of Nahuatl names can be represented by joining logograms together for their meaning,sometimesitisdifficulttovisuallydepictaconceptgraphically.Tosolvethis,incertaincasesalogogramisusedforitsphoneticvalueratherthanitsmeaninginordertorepresentanotherroot,suffix,orsyllable(s)that sounds identical or similar to the logogram. This process is called rebus writing and is also quiteproductiveinAztecwriting,asyoucanseeinthefollowingexamples.
Coatzincomeans"PlaceofLittleSnake",andcontainsthelogogramsKOA(coatl,"snake")andTZIN(tzintli,"buttocks",representedbythelowerhalfofthebody).Thebuttocks,tzintli,isusedinthiscaseasitsrootformtzinhappenstobehomophonouswiththediminutivesuffixtzinwhichroughlymeans"little".Thesuffixco("placeof")isomitted.
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Oztoticpaciscomposedofrootostotl("cave")andsuffixesicpa("above")andc("placeof"),andmeans"PlaceAbovetheCave".TheglyphforcaveOSTOistheheadofareptilianearthmonster,asMesoamericansviewedcavesaslivingbeings.Andinordertowritethesuffixicpa,thesignIKPA(icpatl,"yarn")isusedforitsphoneticvalue.Also,itspositionontopofthecavereinforcestheconceptof"above".
Cuauhnahuacmeans"PlaceNeartheTrees"andconsistsofcuauhtlimeans"trees"andendingsnahua("nearto")andc.ThelogogramKWAWintheformofastylizedtreebranchtreerepresentstherootcuah.Torepresentnahua,AztecscribesusedthesigngroupNAWAcontainingamouthandaspeechscrolltorepresenttheverbnahua"tospeakclearly"(whosenounformis"Nahuatl",thenameofthelanguageoftheAztecs).InthepresentdaythiscityisknownasCuernavaca,aformresultingfromtheSpanishmishearingCuauhnahuacandtransformingintoawordwithSpanishmeaning.
Calixtlahuacaiscomposedofthewordscalli("house")andixtlahuaca("plain").TheglyphKALintheformofahousetransparentlyrepresentstherootcal.Whatisinterestingisthatthelowerelement,thebrownrectanglewithverticalnotches,wouldbereadasthelogogramMIL(milli,"sownfield",asinXochimilcoabove)exceptforthetworoundobjectsinsidewhichareinfacteyes.Therootfor"eye"inNahuatlisix,whichmeansthattheeyesservesasakindofphoneticcomplementorindicatortotellthereaderthatthebrownrectangleglyphisthelgoogramIXTLAWAKAinstead.
PhoneticGlyphs
RebuswritingisoneofthewaystorepresentsoundsratherthanmeaningsinNahuatlwriting.Inaddition,anumber ofNahuatl logograms can also function as singlesyllable phonetic signs.And in fact, like rebuswriting, their phonetic valuesarederived from thewords the logograms represent.However, unlike rebuswritingwhichusesthefullsoundoftheroot,phoneticglyphsarealwayssinglesyllableandtaketheirvaluefrom the firstsyllable (minusanyendingconsonants)of theword the logograms represent.This iscalledtheacrophonicprincipleandisfoundthroughoutwritingsystemsoftheworld.
ThefollowingisachartofNahuatlglyphswithknownphoneticvalues.
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Forexample, theglypha isderived fromatl "water", tla is a set of teeth and based on theword tlantli"tooth", andko which is from comitl "pot". Note that while logograms are transcribed using uppercase
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"tooth", andko which is from comitl "pot". Note that while logograms are transcribed using uppercaseletters,phoneticsignsaretranscribedwithlowercaseletters.
Often names found in Aztec manuscripts and monuments included a good amount of phonetic glyphs.Sometimes the phonetic glyphs serve to complement logograms, in that they spell out one or moresyllables of the logogram. Sometimes the glyphs spell out whole syllables without the presence oflogograms.Andsomewhatmorerarely,theentirenameiswrittenoutfullyphonetically.
MapachtepeciscomposedoftheNahuatlrootsmapachtli("raccoon")andtepetl("hill")plustheendingc("place"),whichtogethermeans"PlaceofRaccoonHill".Insteadofdrawingaraccoon,therootmapachiswrittenfullyphoneticallybyacombinationofthephoneticglyphmaandthelogogramPACH"moss"usedasarebus.
Xocoyoltepecmeans"PlaceofWoodSorrelHill",fromxocoyolli("woodsorrel"),tepetlandendingc.ThewoodsorreloroxalisisxocoyolliinNahuatlandisdenotedbythelogogramXOKOYOLintheformofathreeleafplantglyph.Thefootundertheplantisthephoneticglyphxo,functioningasaphoneticcomplementtomakeitclearthattheplantdepictedisindeedthewoodsorrel.
Amacoztitlan,fromamatl("paper"),costli("yellow"),andtlan("place"),meaning"PlaceofYellowPapers".Thewaterglyphisthephoneticsignainthiscase,providingtheinitialvowel/a/andservingasthephoneticcomplementforthelogogramAMA"paper".Costli"yellow"isexpressedastheyellowcoloringoftheAMAlogogram.Theendingtlanisphoneticallydepictedbytheglyphtla.
TozoztontliisthethirdmonthoftwentydaysintheAztecsolarcalendar.Itmeans"LittleVigil"andisaderivationoftheverbtosoa("toholdvigil").However,therootisinfacttoso,whichiswhythewordisrepresentedbyabird(phoneticglyphto)piercedbyaspine(phoneticso).
Piaztlanmeans"PlaceofAcocote",composedoftherootpiaztli("acocote",alongdriedgourdusedtoextractmagueynectar),andendingtlan.Therootpiazisalmostfullyspelledoutcompletelyusingthephoneticglyphspianda.Theendingtlanisomittedinthiscase.
Cihuatlansimplymeans"PlaceofWoman".TheheadofthewomanfunctionsasthelogogramSIWA(cihuatl,"woman").ThetwoblackverticalstripesisthephoneticsignwaandservesasphoneticcomplementtoshowthatthefemaleheadshouldbereadascihuaratherthanthesimilarlookingfemalelogogramNAN"mother".Theendingtlanisonceagainomitted.
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IlancueitlwasthewifeofthefirstAztecemperorAmacapichtli.Hernamemeans"OldWomanSkirt"andiscomposedoftherootsilamatl("oldwoman")andcueitl("skirt"),whichisrepresentedbytherectangularskirtlogogramKWE.Thefirstrootilamatlchangestoilaninthissituationandappearstobeonlyrepresentedbythephoneticglyphlaabovetheskirt.However,themaskinsidetheskirtmightbealogogramforilamatl,whichmeansthatthephoneticglyphlawouldserveasaphoneticcomplement.
TizocisthenameofseventhAztecemperorasrecordedincolonialmanuscripts,althoughtheexactformandmeaningofhisnameisunknown.Infact,thereareseveralwaystowritehisnamethatcompoundtheconfusion.Inthecurrentexample,itiswrittenphoneticallyasteso,orTesoc,whichmightbeaderivativeoftheverbeso"tobleed"andsupportsoneinterpretationofhisnameas"HeWhoBleedsPeople",aproperlymartialmonicker.Ontheotherhand,onthefamousTizocStonewhichcommemorateshismilitaryconquests,hisnameisdrawnasalegwithdots.Thedotstypicallyrepresentchalk,tisatl,andthelegmightbethephoneticglyphxo,whichwouldsupportthereadingofTisoc.However,whetherhisnamehasanythingtodowithchalkisunknown.Interestingly,oneofthedifferencesbetweenEasternandWesternNahuatldialectsisthealternationofthesounds/e/and/i/,meaningthatonewordinEasternNahuatlwiththesound/e/hasacorrespondingwordinWesternNahuatlwith/i/.ItislikelythathisnamewaswrittenTesocintheolder,moreprestigiousEasterndialectbutspelledasTisocintheWesterndialectwhichwasthedialectoftheAztecs.
One might find that from the previous examples the Aztec writing system is complicated and notstraightforward to modern eyes. Glyphs can be polyvalent, functioning as both logograms and phoneticsigns,andarenotalwaysreadinalinearfashionbutcouldjumpfromoneendtoanother.However,Aztecsand theirneighborsproducedcountlessnumbersofmanuscriptswithsubjectmattersasdiverseas timekeeping, astrology, mythology, genealogy, and history. While these manuscripts were highly pictorial,intimate knowledge of the underlying language, Nahuatl, was absolutely essential to fully interpret theglyphs.Inthisregard,theAztecglyphstrulyconstitutedanactiveandproductivewritingsystem.
RelatedLinks
GBOnline"sAncientMesoamericanWriting.infoaboutmanuscriptsNombresGeográficosdeMéxico.AztecCalendar.tellsyoutoday"s"date"intheAzteccalendarMexica/AztecCalendarSystems.abouthowthesolarandthesacredcalendarworkPrehispanicCalendars.NahuatlCulture.withsectiononAztecwritingCodexMendoza.ImagesfromCodexMendoza.AztecsonHistory.com.
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• Reply •
ROBERTLQUETZALCOATL • 2 years ago
MEXICAN PRIDE IS INDIAN PRIDEINDIOS Y MESTIZOS
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Ocelot lant liN.A. Tezcat lipoca • a year ago> ROBERTL QUETZALCOATL
You made me sad by posting this, do not call yourself an Indian, indiansare from india. Mestizo is a racist term, so you shouldn't use it. Mexicapride, is native pride. We were here first. Spanish is a language for a deadage.
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ZoeSaadia • a year ago> Ocelotlantli N.A. Tezcatlipoca
I cannot agree more! Well said! Thank you :)
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ROBERTLQUETZALCOATL • a year ago
> Ocelotlantli N.A. Tezcatlipoca
YOUR BRAINWASHED BY THE CRIOLLOS.EVERYBODY KNOWS INDIANS ARE FROMINDIA BUT THE NAME TODAY ALSO MEANSNATIVE AMERICANS. MEXICANS ARE ASHAMEDOF THEIR OWN RACIAL HERITAGE SO WERETOLD TO REJECT THE NAME INDIAN. THEREARE MANY PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THATMEXICO HAS TO BE A WHITE COUNTRY TOBE GREAT. WELL THEN ASK YOURSELF WHYMEXICO IS SUCH A FUCKED UP COUNTRYWHEN IT'S ALWAYS BEEN RUN BY WHITEPEOPLE. I'M NOT INDIAN I HAVE VERY LITTLEINDIAN BLOOD BUT I"M MORE THAN PROUD TOBE MEXICAN I LOVE OUR INDIAN BLOOD. THEMEXICA WERE FROM MEXICO CITY OUR BLOODIS FROM ALL THE INDIANS OF MEXICO. DO YOUKNOW ANYBODY MORE IGNORANT THAN PEOPLEWHO ARE ASHAMED OF THEIR OWN RACIALHERITAGE? WHY ARE CHICANOS PROUD TO BEINDIAN WHILE THOSE FROM MEXICO ARE ASHAMEDOF BEING INDIAN? WERE TOLD TO REJECT THE TERMINDIAN NOT BECAUSE IT'S FROM INDIA BUT BECAUSEIT ACKNOWLEDGES THE FACT THAT MEXICANS ARENOT WHITE. I'M SO GLAD I WASN'T BORN IN MEXICOBECAUSE I WOULD RESPECT WHITE PEOPLE AT THESAME TIME I LOOKED DOWN ON INDIANS.
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• Reply •
Ocelot lant liN.A. Tezcat lipoca • a year ago
> ROBERTLQUETZALCOATL
You are right, except to accept the word indian, it's a whitemans term and we should not use it Nocniutl. If we are to bea band, a tribe then we must stop using it. I do not discredityou, except in that word. We are natives, use that, it'sthousands of times better. Let the european filth know us forwhat we are, ininke nikantlaka. These people from here. Ifyou are to call your self anything, call yourself native, I beg ofyou, do not give the white man a thing to look down on youwith. Natives stand tall, indians accept the res as well astheir names. Am I getting through? I don't disagree with youbrother, I just feel your wording is misguided.
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Gana • a year ago> Ocelotlantli N.A. Tezcatlipoca
hello, i am native Algerian, native berber speaking language,which an old native language and not official.the officiallanguage is arabic.what hurts is that a lot of people call usarabic people which is wrong.berber or exactly amazighlanguage which is the language of zinedine zidane mothertongue is the first one in nkrth africa long time before thearraival of arabes invasion to spread islam.we are proud to be natif amazigh for evertanmirt nwen merraGana
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Ocelot lant liN.A. Tezcat lipoca • 7 months ago> Gana
I hope your people one day gain prominence, I disapproveof colonial stifling of native language. Please don't takeoffence to my asking this, but what religion do you follow?
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Sara • 4 months ago> Ocelotlantli N.A. Tezcatlipoca
Using "native" is not accurate because various people canbe natives. Native means being born relative to a place. Ifyou say you're just native, people are going to ask, "butnative to what?"
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ROBERTLQUETZALCOATL • a year ago
> Ocelotlantli N.A.Tezcatlipoca
WHILE I DISAGREE WITH YOU I'M GLADYOUR FOR OUR TRUE MEXICAN HERITAGE.I DON'T SPEAK GACHUPIN BUT IT WOULD BENICE IF YOU COULD SOME HOW START AMOVEMENT WHERE MEXICO'S TRUE MEXICANSWOULD FIGHT (NOT PHYSICAL) TO RETURN TOA POSITION OF POWER. THEY SHOULD BEENCOURAGED TO BEAR MANY CHILDREN ANDTHEIR CHILDREN TO HAVE MANY CHILDREN.
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• Reply •
MEXICANS SHOULD BOYCOTT ALL MOVIESTHAT SHOW CRIOLLOS. THIS MAY SOUNDSILLY BUT IT'S ONLY SILLY IF PEOPLE FAILTO ACT. THEIRS MORE TRUE MEXICANS THANCRIOLLOS BUT THE CRIOLLO RULES.
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I leader33 • 3 years ago
poop is also represented as an aztec symbol i just dont know withc one
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Trucker36 • 3 years ago
Helpful
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PeterSLopez • 3 years ago
"Nahuatl writing was primary written on perishable media such as deer-skin andpaper codices. Due to ravages of time and purposeful destruction of books byboth the Aztecs and the Spanish conquistadores, no pre-Columbian book hassurvived to the modern age."~Too bad, so sad. I imagine some tales passed down by elders remain.@Peta_de_Aztlan
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ancientscripts • 3 years agoMod > Peter S Lopez
Many tales were written from these elders' oral stories right after theconquest. There is a sizable corpus of pre-Columbian Nahuatl literaturepreserved in alphabetic form, but obviously much more were lost. I'd loveto see what was in the library of Texcoco, supposedly the greatestrepository of books in the Aztec Empire.
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Michael • a year ago> ancientscripts
I will to really like to learn more of understanding how to read theirtrue meanings. I'm a custom engraver and alot of my customerswant some Aztec designs therefore before I engrave something thatI don't have the knowledge.
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SilvrSurfr77 • 3 years ago
it was helpful. thanx.
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Hannayusufiscool • 3 years ago
this was helpful,
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Shaelynnfedoski • 3 years ago
I HATE READING!!!!!
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i liketrains • 2 years ago> Shaelynnfedoski
and i hate you!
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10/10/14 Ancient Scripts: Aztec
12/16www.ancientscripts.com/aztec.html
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and i hate you!
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Imnottelling • 2 years ago> Shaelynnfedoski
then go back to preschool
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dudette • 3 years ago> Shaelynnfedoski
yeah I do to
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Poop • 3 years ago> dudette
same
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gonzalitos • 25 days ago
I am not a nahuatl expert but maybe Cuaunahuac (which is the modern mexicancity of Cuernavaca) would be more properly translated as Place Surrounded byTrees, because you indicate in this page that nahua means near, but please checkother nahuatl names like Anahuac, which means Place Surrounded by Water, andalso nahua is related to the four directions of the universe (naui=4), the four cosmicdirections that surround everything. Also when you visit Cuernavaca today, thereare huge wonderful forests in the faraway western outskirts of the now almostdeforested city, so in prehispanic times Cuaunahuac was probably in the midst offorests, thus surrounded by them.-- In relation to Tizoc´s symbol of a foot or leg with dots , probably the dots areskin scratches that bleed more than chalk marks. This would make sense andwould be an apropriate graphic symbol for a ruler that does bloodletting penance.
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AnitaRai1 • a year ago
I am fascinated by the way that Mexico and Mexican languages have such anunbroken and connected history in so many ways, much more than most othersocieties of the New World. The Pre-Columbian, colonial, and modern period areso much more interconnected in Mexico than elsewhere. Your website helps withthat integration, which more people of the world should learn from.
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screamingsnail • 2 years ago
quite informative \
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Red_Tetzcat lipoca • 2 years ago
Okay, the problem that I'm having is that while all of these are obviouslylogophonetic/logosyllabic, they are also all nominatives. Now I realize that sinceNahuatl is a polysynthetic language that the distinction between nominal andverbal nuclei is not as firm as in analytic languages, I am forced to wonder about
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10/10/14 Ancient Scripts: Aztec
13/16www.ancientscripts.com/aztec.html
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verbal nuclei is not as firm as in analytic languages, I am forced to wonder aboutwhether or not their system can be considered a fully fledged writing system if itlacks representations of actions and abstractions.
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Toki • 2 years ago
I was trying to find the meaning of a horizontal bar with a small circle either side inthe center of the bar. Any ideas?
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ancientscripts • 2 years agoMod > Toki
There is a few Maya glyphs that generally fit this description, but I can'trecall an Aztec glyph like this. Typically bar and circles are numbers, butthey're usually stack on top of each other or side by side, not combinedlike that.
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otil • 2 years ago
does anyone know the aztec symbol for harmony, or theyre symbol for butterflyeffect, indras web, interconnectedness, etc
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ancientscripts • 2 years agoMod > otil
Sorry, I don't know of how these concepts were expressed in Aztecglyphs.
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Guest • 2 years ago
any information on what the symbol for "star" is appreciated
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ancientscripts • 2 years agoMod > Guest
Star is "citlali" is Nahuatl. It forms part of the names "Citlaltepec" and"Citlaltepetl", which looks like this
http://sites.estvideo.net/mali...
The top part of black half circle with white dots is "citlali", presumably thewhite dots are stars in the black night sky. After the conquest they alsoused the European 8-corner star:
http://sites.estvideo.net/mali...
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10/10/14 Ancient Scripts: Aztec
14/16www.ancientscripts.com/aztec.html
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Rafael • 2 years ago> ancientscripts
Do you know any links for the Quetzalli
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kyleMcGee • 2 years ago
worst site ever been on did not help me at all I say go to any other websiteplease
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ancientscripts • 2 years agoMod > kyle McGee
Sorry if you honestly feel that way. I'm always looking for any constructivefeedback. However, if you're just trolling, then you're not worth my time.
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GenghisSean • a month ago
Just wanted to say, loving the site. Please though, when you get time, go throughthis work of yours and edit it. There are quite a few mistakes, and I've only started.I mention this because this is a site informing about languages and writing. Themore accurate your writing is, the more accurate the reading us.
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DanielLipka • 7 months ago
MEXICAN PRIDE
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HEROtheAdmin • 10 months ago
how did u do all of this this is amazing!
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Ocelot lant liN.A. Tezcat lipoca • a year ago
Niltze nocniutl, thank you very much for posting this. I hope to someday findsomeone has made a modern font or script for us to use, a unified one that worksacross latin spelling conventions, so we don't have the "Qui and ki" and "Hue andWe" dispute between spanish and english area speakers. Our people deserve atleast their own script for our own damn language. lol
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Thinker? • a year ago
I believe their is pre-conquest books that still exist but are probably hidden awayfrom the public
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D.JennyTorres • a year ago
This is the most helpful site i have found so far, idk y they say its bad, ill takewhatever i can get
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Mohammed • a year ago
his is me as a unicorn
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10/10/14 Ancient Scripts: Aztec
15/16www.ancientscripts.com/aztec.html
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Mohammed • a year ago
Wow thank you for your national teaching i am very pleased
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stevenash • a year ago> Mohammed
No problem
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bob • a year ago
what's u
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KUNGFUPIGWEENER • 2 years ago
THANkS
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DesertMoonsDm • 2 years ago
Great site. I find I come back to again and again. It has helped me recognize rockinscriptions I come across as writing..rather than just scratches in the rock. Topost this comment I had to agree to discus rules and I am not sure about that.When i chose facebook it wanted access to my friends lists..so did not login thatway, Thanks for a well organized , well written and informative site.
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DUDE09 • 2 years ago
LAME
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ColletteFlores • 2 years ago
Great site - you made it easy to get around and understand. Thanks.
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joytwum • 2 years ago
i officially hate reading boring stuff
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Kelli • 2 years ago
So what is the main issue of this content?
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10/10/14 Ancient Scripts: Aztec
16/16www.ancientscripts.com/aztec.html
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