Nahatl books were pictures which were 'read' by those trained in the schools. Spanish Friars wrote, in Spanish letters, what they heard from those who survived the armies of Cortez. The words were utilized by the Friars for sending explanations to Carlos V in Spain.
I have several books that serve as Dictionaries of the Nahuatl language and several more books that explain various aspects of the culture. Think of this picture as a part of a picture dictionary. Word translations follow. This is a 'sunset' in the English language. One dictionary translates the English word 'sunset' into Nahuatl 'calaqui in tonatiuh' by those who recorded the sounds of the native language. A Spanish speaker here would call this a picture of 'la puesta del sol'. We therefore have three sound descriptions for the same picture; 'sunset', 'calaqui in tonatiuh', and 'puesta del sol.'.
I will attempt to explain more; the sounds of Nahuatl have many associations. I am using the Nahuatl sounds associated to the photograph taken from my window in San Miguel de Allende, GTO, Mx. toward the West across the Rio Laja valley. This is an example of a daily vista which could have been seen by a native here two thousand years ago and it is an example of the sounds which may have made by the Nahuatl observer. I record my intuitive impressions of the meaning of the sounds.
The similar daily views were very impressive to a Nahuatl observer who had no means to control the repetitions. He observed that the solar body was a source of annual growth of his corn. This highly respected source had been assigned a sound, 'Tonatiuh'. There was another pair of sounds 'cal-aqui' associated with a picture of someone going into a house. The sound 'in' was used to show a connection between two pictures. The entire picture association was placed into sound as 'calaqui in Tonatiuh'.
This sound represented the sun going into a house.
The entire mythology of ancient picture makers relates to the passage of the sun through the underworld at night and its emergence a dawn of the next day.
My next pictures will show the emergence of Tonaiuh from the underworld.
I have several books that serve as Dictionaries of the Nahuatl language and several more books that explain various aspects of the culture. Think of this picture as a part of a picture dictionary. Word translations follow. This is a 'sunset' in the English language. One dictionary translates the English word 'sunset' into Nahuatl 'calaqui in tonatiuh' by those who recorded the sounds of the native language. A Spanish speaker here would call this a picture of 'la puesta del sol'. We therefore have three sound descriptions for the same picture; 'sunset', 'calaqui in tonatiuh', and 'puesta del sol.'.
I will attempt to explain more; the sounds of Nahuatl have many associations. I am using the Nahuatl sounds associated to the photograph taken from my window in San Miguel de Allende, GTO, Mx. toward the West across the Rio Laja valley. This is an example of a daily vista which could have been seen by a native here two thousand years ago and it is an example of the sounds which may have made by the Nahuatl observer. I record my intuitive impressions of the meaning of the sounds.
The similar daily views were very impressive to a Nahuatl observer who had no means to control the repetitions. He observed that the solar body was a source of annual growth of his corn. This highly respected source had been assigned a sound, 'Tonatiuh'. There was another pair of sounds 'cal-aqui' associated with a picture of someone going into a house. The sound 'in' was used to show a connection between two pictures. The entire picture association was placed into sound as 'calaqui in Tonatiuh'.
This sound represented the sun going into a house.
The entire mythology of ancient picture makers relates to the passage of the sun through the underworld at night and its emergence a dawn of the next day.
My next pictures will show the emergence of Tonaiuh from the underworld.
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