itztli

Central Nahuatl

Noun

itztli

1. obsidian.

Classical Nahuatl

Alternative forms

• ytztli (obsolete)

Pronunciation

Karttunen (1983), Lockhart (2001) and Andrews (2003) all write ītztli (IPA^(key): /iːtstɬi/), but Lockhart says "It is not entirely certain that the i of the root is long."

Noun

itztli

1. obsidian
2. an obsidian knife
   • 1547, Andrés de Olmos, Arte para aprender la lengua mexicana, ed. by Rémi Siméon (1875)

     Ytztli, navaja de piedra, nitz, vel nitzhui

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1912, Isabel Castañeda Ramirez, Tèhuehuentzin ihuan tochtli, ed. and tr. by Franz Boas and Herman K. Haeberlin; in "Ten Folktales in Modern Nahuatl", The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 37 (1924), p. 346

     ximanilli in aitztli [sic; error for itztli?] nian huetztoc, ica xinechmitzminilli, ihuan xinechmoyezatliti.
     Take this obsidian knife and wound me with it and drink my blood.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• Itzcoatl
• itzcuauhtli
• itztic
• quetzalitztli

References

• Andrews, J. Richard (2003) Workbook for Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, rev. ed. edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, page 230
• Karttunen, Frances (1983) An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl, Austin: University of Texas Press, page 109
• Lockhart, James (2001) Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts, Stanford: Stanford University Press, page 221