otlica.

Headword:

otlica.

Principal English Translation:

along the way, on the road, by the road, in the road, in the street, on the ground (see Karttunen and Molina); roads needed to be swept (see attestations); roads were also places where people might congregate when concerned about something (see attestations)

Orthographic Variants:

otlipa, vtlica

IPAspelling:

ohtɬiːkɑ

Alonso de Molina:

otlica. por el camino, o enel camino.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 78r. col. 2. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Frances Karttunen:

OHTLĪCA along or in the road / por el camino (C) [(1)Cf.19V,(1)Rp.65]. See OH-TLI, ĪCA.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 177.

Lockhart’s Nahuatl as Written:

phrase becoming a particle. 228
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 228.

Attestations from sources in English:

yeica ca cenca titotolinia ca antle neci in totech monequiz yn otlica yn acalco yn tiquazque yvan inic titelaxtlavizque ynic huel motetzinco tacuzque = because we are very poor and do not have what is needed for the journey on the boat nor things to eat nor anything to pay people in order to be able to reach you (Huejotzingo, 1560)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 29, 180–181.

otli (road) + ica (with)
Robert Haskett and Stephanie Wood's notes from Nahuatl sessions with James Lockhart and subsequent research.

No ioan ic tlanavatia in tlachpanaloz vtlica = Moreover, they also ordered that on the roads there be sweeping. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 201.

Icnopillotl ommomelauh. Iquac mitoa: intla itla uecauhtica onicnixnextili: auh no aca, zan quioalichtequi: anozo cana temac nictlaza otlica = He marched straight to poverty. This is said when I manage to accumulate something after a long time and someone comes along and steals it, or else I throw it away on the road.
Thelma D. Sullivan, "Nahuatl Proverbs, Conundrums, and Metaphors, Collected by Sahagún," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 4 (1963), 106–107.

Attestations from sources in Spanish:

mocohuaz catelas matlactli pesustican yehuatl yn no hoome domines ypatiuh yn noca tlatlaz otlica yn icuac motocaz nonacayo = se compren diez pesos de candelas de cera de a dos tomines para que las lleven encendidas los que acompañen mi cuerpo (San Juan Teotihuacan, 1563)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos indígenas novohispanos, vol. 2, Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVI, eds., Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Elsa Leticia Rea López, Constantino Medina Lima (Mexico: Consejo Nacional de Ciencias Tecnología, 1999), 134–135.

acopa[n] antlachiazque ça[n] na[n]tolozque a[n]tlatlauhtizque tlateochivalcandela anquitlatizque yuha[n] amo yuhqui anquichiuazque in otlica anmomamana y[n] cana ytla mochihua yn oqueh ammoquetza anquitta yhuan tlapa[n]co a[n]momamana yn a[n]mamapilloua. = no lo tomen como agüero, no idolatren y no vean hacia arriba, sólo bajarán la cabeza, harán rogaciones, encenderán velas benditas. Y no vayan hacer como cuando ocurre algo que en el camino se congregan, se paran a mirar y en las azoteas se juntan para estar señalando. (ca. 1582, México)
Luis Reyes García, ¿Como te confundes? ¿Acaso no somos conquistados? Anales de Juan Bautista (Mexico: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Biblioteca Lorenzo Boturini Insigne y Nacional Basílica de Guadalupe, 2001), 170.

themes:

Transportation, Travel

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