Nahuatl

Alternative forms

• ytztli (obsolete)

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

   • 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.

Derived terms

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