Classical Nahuatl

Noun

oquichtli ‎(plural oquichtin)

1. Man; adult male human.
   • 16C: Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales

     oquichtli. tlatequipanoa. chicaoac.

     (Man: He works, he is strong.)

   • 1571: Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, f. 77v. col. 2.

     Oquichtin. varones.

     (Oquichtin. men, males.)

2. A brave warrior.
   • 17C: Tezozomoc, Chimalpahin, Crónica mexicayotl, f. 48r–v

     cuix nelli yn oquichtli, axayaca cuix nelli yn tlamani yaoc yn iuh machizti amo çã niztatlaca tlacoti yn quimonmococohuia yn quin hualhuica nican mexico, ynic oquichneci axayaca

     (Is he really a manly warrior? Does Axayaca really take captives? As is known, are they not only salt-making slaves whom he buys and brings hither to Mexico, so that Axayaca appears to be a manly warrior?)

3. Male.
4. Husband.

Usage notes

When a male is speaking, the first person plural toquichtin "we men"/"us men" may be used instead of a third person form. For example:

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

  In īpan ōnàcito in nēpacà toquichtin, ca ītlan conoltìtoc izcihuātl īmecauh, īnnéhuān huèhuetztoquê. Quando yo llegue adonde estaua aquel hombre, tenia echada junto à si à su amiga.

  (When I arrived where that man (literally "we men") was, he had his woman friend lying next to him, [they were lying together].)

Derived terms

• oquichozomahtli

References

• Andrews, J. Richard (2003) Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, revised edition edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pages 146, 429
• Andrews, J. Richard (2003) Workbook for Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, revised edition edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, page 243
• Carochi, Horacio (2001) Grammar of the Mexican Language, with an Explanation of its Adverbs, translated and edited with commentary by James Lockhart, Stanford: Stanfod University Press, pages 236–237, 316–317
• Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón (1997) Codex Chimalpahin, edited and translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pages vol. 1, pp. 136–137
• Karttunen, Frances (1983) An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl, Austin: University of Texas Press, page 180
• Lockhart, James (2001) Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts, Stanford: Stanford University Press, page 228
• Sahagún, Bernardino de (1997) Primeros Memoriales, paleography of Nahuatl text and English translation by Thelma D. Sullivan. Completed and revised, with additions, by H. B. Nicholson, Arthur J. O. Anderson, Charles E. Dibble, Eloise Quiñones Keber, and Wayne Ruwet, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, page 252