tlacatecolotl

tlacatecolotl

1. wizard
2. demon

From tlacatl (“person”) +‎ tecolotl (“owl”).

• IPA^(key): /tɬaːkateˈkoloːtɬ/

tlācatecolōtl (aboslutive plural tlātlācatecoloh)

1. demon
   • 1555, Alonso de Molina, Aqui comienca vn vocabulario en la lengua Castellana y Mexicana:

     Demonio. tlacatecolotl. tzitzimitl. colelectli

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1645: Horacio Carochi, Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaración de todos sus adverbios, ed. by James Lockhart (2001)

     cencà tēmàmauhtìquè in tlātlacatecolô; son los Demonios muy espantosos.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. type of indigenous wizard or sorcerer
   • 1889, Bernardino de Sahagún, translated by James Lockhart, Florentine Codex‎^[1], volume 10, folio 12r:

     Inic chicuei capitulo: vncan mitoa in quenin iehoatl motecuçoma, quimioa in nanaoalti in tlatlacateculo, in tetlachivianime, inic itla impan quichioazque in Españoles.

     Eighth chapter, where it is said how Moteucçoma sent witches, wizards, and sorcerers to do something to the Spaniards.

   • 1889, Bernardino de Sahagún, translated by James Lockhart, Florentine Codex‎^[2], volume 13, folio 21r:

     in tlacateculotl mocuepani naoale

     The possessed one [is] one who transforms himself, who assumes the guise of an animal.

3. epithet of Huitzilopochtli
   • 1889, Chimalpahin, translated by Rémi Siméon, Annales de Domingo Francisco de San Anton Muñon Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin: sixième et septième relations (1258-1612)‎^[3], page 158:

     Auh ça no ypan inyn omomamal, yn omochalli yn teocalli yn ical [c]atca tlacatecolotl yxiptla Huitzilopochtli.

     'And on (that day) was inaugurated and opened the temple, the house of the idol of the sorcerer Huitzilopochtli.

4. the Devil in Christianity
   • 1645, Horacio Carochi, chapter 13, in Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaración de todos sus adverbios‎^[4], volume 3, De los compulsivos de los verbos activos (section 2):

     In tlācatecolōtl mictlāmpahuīc quimitztiltitiuh in tlàtlacoānimê

     The Devil makes sinners go to Hell.

• nahualli

• Andrews, J. Richard. (2003) Workbook for Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, Revised Edition, University of Oklahoma Press, p. 257.
• Karttunen, Frances. (1983) An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl, University of Texas Press, p. 252.
• Lockhart, James. (2001) Nahuatl as Written, Stanford University Press, p. 235.