cenyollotli. | Nahuatl Dictionary

Headword:

cenyollotli.

Principal English Translation:

a measure; the distance from the heart to an outstreched fingertip, and hence one half of the braza

Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), 158.

Orthographic Variants:

cenyolotli

IPAspelling:

senjoːllohtɬi

Alonso de Molina:

cenyollotli. medida de braza, desdel pecho ala mano.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 17r. col. 2. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Attestations from sources in English:

Also attested, with a similar meaning: yolotli, yollotli, yollotl.

omatl ipan ce yollotli = five varas (this makes one matl the equivalent of 2 varas and the yollotli the equivalent of one vara) (Coyoacan, 1568)
James Lockhart collection, notes in the file "Land and Economy." For this example he cites the book Beyond the Codices, p. 90.

cenyolloti = half a braza (Coyoacan, mid-sixteenth c.)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 26, 158–159.

The distance from the heart to the hand, when the arm is extended--? The tlalquahuitl, being twice this braza or yard, was probably the distance from the ground to the finger tips when one jumped as high as possible--?

unit of measure (literally = one heart)
S. L. Cline, Colonial Culhuacan, 1580–1600: A Social History of an Aztec Town (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1986), 235.

a certain measure, equivalent to 1/2 "braza de indios" (or half a tlalquahuitl, land stick, which was about 8 feet; the result would be about 3 or 4 feet?)
Robert Haskett and Stephanie Wood's notes from Nahuatl sessions with James Lockhart and subsequent research.

half a braza ("media de braza desde el pecho a la mano") -- Sullivan writes: Literalmente 'un corazón.'
Thelma Sullivan, Documentos Tlaxcaltecas del siglo XVI en lengua náhuatl (Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1987), 47.

This measurement was used to measure a houselot in Tetzcoco, in the Fragmento Humboldt VI, from the sixteenth century.
Víctor M. Castillo F., "Unidades nahuas de medida," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 10 (1972), 195–223, see page 197, fig. 1.

This measurement appears on a houselot plan from Huexocolco (near Tetzcoco) from the sixteenth century.
Víctor M. Castillo F., "Unidades nahuas de medida," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 10 (1972), 195–223, see page 200, fig. 2.

We see it on the Oztoticpac Lands Map for the measurement of a parcel. Víctor M. Castillo F., "Unidades nahuas de medida," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 10 (1972), 195–223, see p. 206, fig. 4.

Attestations from sources in Spanish:

Citando Siméon, "medida de braza desde el pecho a la mano" -- Literalmente "un corazón."
Thelma Sullivan, Documentos Tlaxcaltecas del siglo XVI en lengua náhuatl (Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1987), 47.

Y cuando se dice "la mano," Brinton explica que hablamos de la distancia de "la mitad del pecho al fin de los dedos."
Víctor M. Castillo F., "Unidades nahuas de medida," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 10 (1972), 195–223, ver la página 215.

themes:

Measurements, Quantities