nahua.

Headword: 
nahua.
Principal English Translation: 

audible, intelligible, clear; within earshot, near; an incantation, language (see Karttunen)

to have in arms; to baptize (Gran Diccionario Náhuatl, citing 2002 Meyacapan)

"to speak," a sign involving speech scrolls, a rebus employed to elicit -nahuac, meaning "beside, together with" in place names [Alfonso Lacadena, "Regional Scribal Traditions: Methodological Implications for the Decipherment of Nahuatl Writing," The PARI Journal 8:4 (Spring 2008), 2.]

Orthographic Variants: 
nāhua
IPAspelling: 
nɑːwɑ
Frances Karttunen: 

*NĀHUA- This element enters into many derivations with divergent meanings. The basic sense appears to be 'audible, intelligible, clear,' from which different derivations extend to ‘ within earshot, near,' 'incantation' (hence many things to do with spells and sorcery), and 'language.'
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 156.

themes: 
Speech, Speaking, Oral Tradition
Writing, Literacy
See also: 
nahuac.