Classical Nahuatl

Verb

cuepa

1. (transitive) To turn.
   • 1555: Alonso de Molina, Aqui comienca un vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana, f. 35r.

     Boluer algo dela otra parte. nitla,cuepa.

   • 16C: Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex, book 1

     yn acalli qujcuepa, qujxtlapachcuepa, queoatiquetza, ca aco maiauj, ca tema.

     (She upset the boat, overturned it, lifted it up, tossed it up, plunged it in the water.)

   • 1645: Horacio Carochi, Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaración de los adverbios della, f. 92v.

     Si S. Lorenço hablara en Mexicano con el Tirano, el dixera: ca ye ōtléhuāc izcentlapal noyōmòtlan: xitlanahuati, mā nechcuepacān, inic nitléhuāquiz in occentlapal [...] ya està assado vn lado de mis costados, manda que me bueluan, para que se asse el otro

     (If St. Lawrence talked in Mexican with the tyrant, he would say, [...] One side of my flanks is already roasted, order them to turn me so the other side will be roasted)

2. (transitive) To return.
3. (reflexive) To return; go back.
   • c1609: Tezozomoc, Chimalpahin, Cronica mexicayotl, f. 57r.

     ynin çan quipamictito yn españoles Mexica ohtlipã ynic ye hualmocuepaya yn españa yc huia oyolcocoq̃

     (The Mexica just poisoned him on his way back from Spain, where had gone.)

   • 1645: Horacio Carochi, Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaración de los adverbios della, f. 79r.

     aocmoninocuepaz nochan, ca yenicān ninomati, no me boluerè mas à mi casa, por que ya me hallo bien aqui.

     (I will not return to my home again, because I am happy here.)

4. (reflexive) To become; to turn into.
   • 1645: Horacio Carochi, Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaración de los adverbios della, f. 14v.

     nixolopìtli ninocuepa, me bueluo tonto, tixolopìtin titocuepâ, nos boluemos tontos

     (nixolopìtli ninocuepa, I turn into an idiot; Tixolopìtin titocuepâ, We turn into idiots.)

   • 1645: ibid., f. 121r.

     Iuhquin anchichimè anmocuepà inìquāc anquimotequimacà in mīxītl in tlapātl, os bolueis como perros, quando beueis demasiado.

     (You become like dogs when you drink excessively.)

5. (transitive) To translate.
   • 1565: Alonso de Molina, Confessionario breve en lengua mexicana y castellana, f. 2r.

     Nicã ompeua yn neyolmelaualoni, yn amo veyac yn çã tepiton, yn oq̓motlalili oquimotecpanili yn padre fray Alonſo de Molina ſ. Frãciſco teopixq̓ ynipã nauatlatolli oq̓mocuepili.

     Aq̓ comiẽça vn Cõfeſsionario, breue y pequeño: compueſto por el padre fray Alonſo d̓ Molina d̓la ordẽ d̓ ſeñor. ſ. Franciſco, buelto y traduzido enla lẽgua delos nauas, por el miſmo autor.

6. (reflexive, religion) To convert.
   • 1645: Horacio Carochi, Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaración de los adverbios della, f. 116r.

     xiccaqui iz çāço tāctè titlàcoāni, izçāço quēnman ihuicpatzinco timocuepaz in Totēcuiyo, mitzmopòpolhuilīz izçāço quēxquich, ihuan iz çāçotlein ic otimōyolìtlacalhuî, oye pecador, qualquiera que tu seas, à qualquier hora, que te conuirtieres à Nuestro Señor te perdonarà qualesquiera pecados, que ayas cometido.

     (Listen, sinner, whoever you should be, at whatever hour, if you convert to our Lord he will pardon you whatever sins you should have committed.)

References

• Andrews, J. Richard (2003) Workbook for Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, rev. ed. edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, page 219
• Carochi, Horacio (2001) Grammar of the Mexican Language, with an Explanation of its Adverbs (1645), trans. and ed. by James Lockhart, Stanford: Stanford University Press, pages 84–85, 294–295, 340–341, 424–425, 444–445
• Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón (1997) Codex Chimalpahin, ed. and trans. by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pages vol. 1, pp. 160–161
• Karttunen, Frances (1983) An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl, Austin: University of Texas Press, pages 69–70
• Lockhart, James (2001) Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts, Stanford: Stanford University Press, page 216
• Sahagún, Bernardino de (1981) Florentine Codex: Book 1 - The Gods, ed. and trans. by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble, 2nd ed., rev. edition, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, page 21