© 1995-2001 Untangle Incorporated
Last Updated: Thursday, August 14,2003
Pronunciation of Aztec Names
There is a base language called Nuatla. It was spoken by the Aztecs as the first Spanish who visited them. The Spanish recorded it, and unfortunately their spelling is often used for the names of Aztec deities. Why unfortunately? Well English and Spanish do not always pronounce things the same.
Tthe Spanish also destroyed most of the glyphs (pictured sounds) that constituted the Aztec's alphabet but the priests also preserved a few of their deer skin manuscripts and so we have some of the original 'sound symbols' of the Aztecs. See Aztec Writing for more details.
Spelling of Quetzacoatl in English is the Spanish spelling. QUE is not like in 'question' but like in the Spanish "Que passa?" which sounds like "KAY PASSA". (Actually it sounds close to "kuh passa" but let the scholars think they can speak it)
We are indebted to web pages maintained by David K. Jordan
Professor of Anthropology & Provost, Earl Warren College, UCSD and to the really fun pages on Cat Names (by Culture) researched by Dominic Marks and found at Magic Names for Mystic Cats, for the pronunciation rules, and their applications.
The conventions to convey phonetic sounds are these:
- The accentuated syllable is capitalized.
- A capitalized vowel is pronounced as the name of the letter so Kate is KAT and cat is KaT.
- If a letter or a group of letters is nearly silent (a schwa by international phonetic conventions) or is silent then it or they are represented by a single quote '.
- For example the English word emphasized is rendered as eM Fa sIz'd.
The official pronounciation rules are these:
- If there is no exception noted below, the pronunciation is as in Spanish.
- The second last syllable is stressed usually.
- X is pronounced like English SH.
- LL is pronounced like the L of Long.
- TL counts as a single consonant, never as a full syllable. The consonant sounds like 'the TL in FAINTLY without the e sound of the Y.
- CU and UC are both pronounced KW as in KWIKLY (quickly).
- HU and UH are both pronounced W as in WIN not WHEN.
- H without an adjacent U represents a glottal stop (as in go_over); in modern Nahuatl it sometimes has a sound similar to an English H and may have had that value in some dialects of Classical Nahuatl as well. (For an English speaker, pronouncing the H like an English H has the advantage that it helps one remember that it is there.)
- U does not occur as an independent vowel.
- Z is pronounced like English S.
- Some common spelling variations include:
- The letters U and O may be used interchangeably to represent the sound of O.
- The letter U alone may be used instead of UH or HU to represent the sound of W.
- The letter H representing the glottal stop may or may not be written.
- Vowel length may or may not be marked.
- The letters Y and I may be used interchangeably to represent the vowel I.
- The letter I may be used for the consonent Y.
- The letter Ç may be used in place of Z to represent the sound of S.
- In this century American linguists working with modern Nahuatl have sometimes preferred spellings that look less Spanish (and "coincidentally" more English). Thus:
W may be used in place of HU or UH for the sound of W.
K may be used in place of QU/C for the sound of K.
S may be used in place of Z/C for the sound of S.
|
Name
|
Pronunciation
|
|
Acolmiztli
|
ay kOl MES tl ee (AY as in bay)
|
|
Acolnahuacatl
|
ay kOl na'wa KAH tl
|
|
Ah Toltecat
|
ah tOl TEH kat
|
|
Amimitl
|
ay mEm EE tl
|
|
Atl
|
AY tl
|
|
Atlaua
|
aht LAH'wa
|
|
Atlahua
|
aht LAH'wa
|
|
Camaxtli
|
kah mash TE lee
|
|
Ce Acatl
|
SE ah CAT tl
|
|
Centzonuitznaua
|
sent sonEts NAH'a
|
|
Centeocihuatl
|
sen tEO cEwAH tl
|
|
Chalchiuhtlatonal
|
chalk wE tl'a TO nahl
|
|
Chalchiuhtlicue
|
chall wee tl'E kO |
|
Chalchiutotolin
|
chalk wE to TO lEn
|
|
Chalmecacihuilt
|
chal me kahk WE'olt
|
|
Chalmecatl
|
chal mE KAH tl
|
|
Chicomexochtli
|
thE kO mes OK tl'E
|
|
Chiconahui
|
thee kO NAH wE
|
|
Chiconahuiehecatl
|
chEkO na wE we KAH tl
|
|
Cihuacoatl
|
thE wO kO AH'tl
|
|
Cinteotl
|
thEn tE O'tl
|
|
Cipactli
|
thE PAHK tl'E
|
|
Citlalatonac
|
thE tl'ahl a TO nak
|
|
Citlalicue
|
thE tl'a LE kwe |
|
Coatlicue
|
kO ahtl'E kwe
|
|
Ciuacoatl
|
thE'a KOAH tl
|
|
Ciuateoteo
|
thE kwa tE O tEo
|
|
Cochimetl
|
kOk E Me tl
|
|
Coyolxauhqui
|
kO hOl SHahW kE
|
|
Ehecatl
|
e we KAH tl
|
|
Huehueteotl
|
we we tE O tl
|
|
Huitzilopochtli
|
wet sEl O POK tl'E
|
|
Huixtocihuatl
|
we stOkE WAH tl
|
|
Ilamatecuhtli
|
i lama tek KWA 'tlE
|
|
Itzcoliuhqui
|
its kol I kwa kE
|
|
Itzlacoliuhque
|
its lah kolE KWA ke
|
|
Itzli
|
its LE
|
|
Itzpapalotl
|
its pahpah LO tl
|
|
Ixtliton
|
ish tlE TUN
|
|
Macuilxochitl
|
mah kwil sO CHE tl
|
|
Mayahuel
|
mAH ha KWEL
|
|
Metztli
|
mets tlE
|
|
Meztli
|
mes tlE
|
|
Mictlancihuatl
|
mik tl'ahn si KWA tl
|
|
Mixcoatl
|
mish KO tl
|
|
Nagual
|
na GWAL
|
|
Nanauatzin
|
na NAHT sin
|
|
Omacatl
|
O mah KAH tl
|
|
Omecihuatl
|
O methE KWA tl
|
|
Ometecuhtli
|
O met e KWi tl'e
|
|
Ometeotl
|
O me TEO tl
|
|
Opochtli
|
op OCH tlE
|
|
Patecatl
|
pat eh KATL
|
|
Quetzalcoatl
|
kayt sahl KO'tl
|
|
Tecciztecatl
|
tek sis te KATL
|
|
Teoyaomiqui
|
tE oy' OME kee
|
|
Tepeyollotl
|
te pA ol LO tl
|
|
Teteoinnan
|
te te OIN nan
|
|
Titlacauan
|
tit la KAH wan
|
|
Tlahuixcalpantecuhtli
|
tlah kwEs kal pan te KWA tlE
|
|
Tlaloc
|
tla LoK
|
|
Tlaltecuhtli
|
tlal te KWa tlee
|
|
Tlazolteotl
|
tla sol TE otl
|
|
Tloque Nahuaque
|
tlO kA na KWA kA
|
|
Tonacacihuatl
|
tO na ka si KWA tl
|
|
Tonacatecuhtli
|
tO na ka te KWA tlE |
|
Tonatiuh
|
tO na TE wa
|
|
Tzitzimime
|
tsEts E MI me
|
|
Ueuecoyotl
|
weh weh KOYO tl |
|
Uixtochihuatl
|
wish tO ki KWA tl
|
|
Xilonen
|
shelO NEN
|
|
Xipe Totec
|
she pe TO tek
|
|
Xiuhtecuhtli
|
she wa te KWA tle
|
|
Xochipilli
|
shok e PiL le
|
|
Xochiquetzal
|
shok i KAY tsal
|
|
Xocotl
|
shah KO tl |
|
Xocotli
|
shah KO tle
|
|
Yacatecuhtli
|
yak a te KWA tle
|
|
Yaotl
|
yao tl
|
|
Yiacatecuhtli
|
ye a kat e KWA tle
|
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