-pol. | Nahuatl Dictionary

Headword:

-pol.

Principal English Translation:

1) wretched: a suffix meaning miserable or wretched; a particle that, when placed after a noun, increases its significance, usually in malam partem [in a perjorative sense] like azo in Spanish
Horacio Carochi, S.J., Grammar of the Mexican language with an explanation of its adverbs (1645), translated and edited with commentary by James Lockhart, UCLA Latin American Studies Volume 89 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 2001), 43.

2) large: The use of -pol in nehuapol, according to Louise Burkhart, literally means "Big Me," but in usage means wretched me. It may also have the sense of large in citlalpol, which is an especially bright star. More examples are: cuauhticapol, cuauhchocholpol, cuauhtitimpol, cuitlatolompol, hueipol, talapol, all found in this digital collection to mean big, large, tall, etc. (SW)

Orthographic Variants:

-pul

Horacio Carochi / English:

-pōl = augmentative element
Horacio Carochi, S.J., Grammar of the Mexican language with an explanation of its adverbs (1645), translated and edited with commentary by James Lockhart, UCLA Latin American Studies Volume 89 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 2001), 509, 43.

Attestations from sources in English:

mixpantzinco onihuala, in ninopapacaco in ninoçencahuaco, in mixpantzinco nictlallico, in niyaca in nopalanca, in nehuatl nitlatlacoanipol = before you I come to cleanse and prepare myself, setting down my sinful stink and rottenness before you. I am a big, wretched sinner.
Bartolomé de Alva, A Guide to Confession Large and Small in the Mexican Language, 1634, eds. Barry D. Sell and John Frederick Schwaller, with Lu Ann Homza (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 135.

mopōuhcāpōl = arrogant fool
Michel Launey, An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, translated and adapted by Christopher MacKay (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 160.

necoc titenecapul = you are a wretched two-edged one
cuexcochcoyocpul = miserable hole in the nape of the neck
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 212.

The suffix -pol "carries a sense of deprecation or contempt."
Louise M. Burkhart, Holy Wednesday: A Nahua Drama from Early Colonial Mexico (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996), 220.

xiyauh itzcuimpolli chichipole = go to one side, cur, mongrel (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 296.

xiyauh xvlopitle aquimamatie maceoaltotomacpole ycnopiltotomacpol = go to one side, stupid lout, fat ungrateful wretch (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 296.

ticnopiltotomacpol ticnopillaveliloc = ungrateful, miserable wicked one! (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 298.

auh in Judiopopol yCa intlahelcamac, intlahellatol = and the big Jews with their angry mouths, their angry words (early seventeenth century, Central Mexico)
Louise M. Burkhart, Before Guadalupe: The Virgin Mary in Early Colonial Nahuatl Literature, Institute for Mesoamerican Studies Monograph 13 (Albany: University at Albany, 2001), 96.

The plural of pōl is popōl: tlahuelilocapol, big old rogue; plural tlahuelilocapopol.
Horacio Carochi, S.J., Grammar of the Mexican language with an explanation of its adverbs (1645), translated and edited with commentary by James Lockhart, UCLA Latin American Studies Volume 89 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 2001), 43.

Tzonpachpul, cuitlanexpul: vel achi itzoncal ticlalilia. Inin tlatolli: itechpa mitoa in aquin cauilquixtia in itlatocauh, anozo itepachocauh = Unkempt and filthy; or, Straighten your wig a little! This is said to a person who derides his king or ruler.
Thelma D. Sullivan, "Nahuatl Proverbs, Conundrums, and Metaphors, Collected by Sahagún," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 4 (1963), 142–143.

Attestations from sources in Spanish:

mixpantzinco onihuala, in ninopapacaco in ninoçencahuaco, in mixpantzinco nictlallico, in niyaca in nopalanca, in nehuatl nitlatlacoanipol = a labar, y vañar mis culpas y pecados, y ha manifestaros mis asquerosas llagas, porque soy vn gran pecador
Bartolomé de Alva, A Guide to Confession Large and Small in the Mexican Language, 1634, eds. Barry D. Sell and John Frederick Schwaller, with Lu Ann Homza (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 134–135.

Pol o pul es un aumentativo despectivo: ciuapol (ciuatl), muerona, especie de virago; también se une a los nombres propios y a los pronombres: Pedropol, Pedro malvado; nehuapol (nehuatl), yo; etc.
Rémi Siméon, Diccionario de la lengua náhuatl o mexicana (Mexico: Siglo XXI, 1988), xxxix.