Possible Nahuatl etymologies of Guadalupe

Coatlaxopeuh is a word proposed by father Mariano Jacobo Rojas of Tepoztlán as a possible Nahuatl origin of the word Guadalupe, the appellation of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The suggestion of a Nahuatl etymology for the Virgin's name was part of the Mexican indigenista debates of the mid 20th century, in which prominent intellectuals reinterpreted Mexican history with a renewed emphasis on the nation's indigenous heritage. In addition to coatlaxopeuh many other proposed Nahuatl etymologies of Guadalupe have been suggested, but in the devotional literature coatlaxopeuh remains the most accepted.

Luís Becerra y Tanco

The earliest suggestion that the word "Guadalupe" had originated as a misconstrual of an original Nahuatl word was by the priest Luís Becerra y Tanco in 1666. He proposed that since Juan Diego to whom the virgin had appeared did not speak Spanish, and since the Nahuatl language did not have the voiced consonants "g" or "d", it was likely that the name had originally been a Nahuatl word which was later misheard by Spaniards as Guadalupe. He proposed that the original name could have been "tequantlanopeuh" which he translated as "She who originated from the summit of the rocks".

Indigenismo

Father Mario Rojas Sánchez who translated the Nican Mopohua suggested the Nahuatl name "Tlecuauhtlapeupeuh," which he translates as "She who emerges from the region of light like the Eagle from fire".

Gloria Anzaldúa

Gloria Anzaldúa, in her book Borderlands / La Frontera, proposes the indigenous origin of Guadalupe as Coatlalopeuh, which she translates as "She Who Has Dominion over Serpents." She argues that because Coatlalopeuh sounds like Guadalupe, the Spanish saw Coatlalopeuh as parallel or identical to "the dark Virgin, Guadalupe, patroness of West Central Spain" (Page 27). Anzaldúa gives Coatlaxopeuh as a variant name. She sees both versions as being linked historically to Coatlicue, whose name means "Serpent Skirt."

Bibliography

• Anzaldúa, Gloria E. (2000). "Coatlalopeuh, la que domina a los serpientes." La diosa de las Américas. 12 p. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-375-70369-1.
• Anzaldúa, Gloria E. (2007). Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza. 3rd ed. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books.
• Barnes, Rhonda L. (1997). Demanding Social Equality: A Feminist Re-Interpretation of the Virgin of Guadalupelink title.
• Becerra Tanco, Luis. 1979 [1675]. Felicidad de México. 3a ed. facsimilar. México: Editorial Jus.
• Behrens (von Hapsburg), Helen. 1952. The Treasure of México. México.
• Behrens (von Hapsburg), Helen. 1966. The Virgin and the Serpent God. México: Editorial Progres
• Dávila Garibi, Ignacio. 1936. Breve estudio histórico-etimológico acerca del vocablo "Guadalupe." 4a ed. Mexico: Imp. Emilio Pardo e Hijos.
• Keen, Benjamin. 1971. The Aztec Image in Western Thought. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
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• León-Portilla, Miguel. 1978. Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Náhuatl Mind. 5th printing. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press
• Phelan, John. 1960. Neo-Aztecism in the Eighteenth Century and the Genesis of Mexican Nationalism. In Culture and History: Essays in Honor of Paul Radin, ed. S. Diamond, pp. 761–770. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Rodríguez, Mauro. 1980. Guadalupe: iHistoria o símbolo? Metico: Editorial Edicol.
• Rojas Sánchez, Mario, trans. 1978. Nican Mopohua. Puebla: Diócesis de Huejutla.
• Rojas Sánchez, Mario and J. Hernández Illescas. 1983. Las Estrellas del manto de la Virgen de Guadalupe. Mexico: Francisco Méndez Oteo.
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• Lafaye, Jacques. 1977. Quetzalcóatl y Guadalupe: La Formación de la conciencia nacional en México. Meico: Fondo de Cultura Económica