Tollan. | Nahuatl Dictionary

Headword:

Tollan.

Principal English Translation:

Tollan was a legendary place (e.g. referring to Aztlan or Cholula) as well as the original name for Tula, a major altepetl in what is now the state of Hidalgo, extremely important as center of a legendary culture and empire (see attestations)

Orthographic Variants:

Tullam, Tullan, Tula

IPAspelling:

toːllɑːn

Frances Karttunen:

TŌLLĀN = place name Tula [(1)Cf.56v]. See TŌL-IN, -TLĀN.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 244.

Lockhart’s Nahuatl as Written:

tolin == rush, reed
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), 240.

Attestations from sources in English:

María Castañeda de la Paz identifies the place name glyph for Tollan [tol(lin) + tlan(tli)] in the Codex Mexicanus (plate 18 in her publication of the codex in 2019) as representing Aztlan.

Auh ie iuh, cempoalxiujtl omome, opoliuh in tullan: in açico in tlalmaçeoaco: omotecaco in chichimeca, in vncan tetzcuco. = And twenty-two years after Tollan was destroyed, the Chichimeca came to reach and take the land and establish themselves there in Texcoco. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 8 -- Kings and Lords, no. 14, Part IX, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 15.

Injc macujlli capitulo, ipan mjtoa: in ie quezqujtzonxiujtl poliuh tullan, in jxquichica xiujtl, de 1565. = Fifth Chapter, in which it is told how many four hundreds of years ago Tollan was destroyed, up to [the present] year of 1565. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 8 -- Kings and Lords, no. 14, Part IX, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 15.

oncan opano-que tollan caoncan ocazique calzontin, tetepátin, ymachio = From there they went to Tollan, where they found only ruins and signs of walls.
Anónimo mexicano, ed. Richley H. Crapo and Bonnie Glass-Coffin (Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 2005), 13.

Ye nicān nicchihchīhuaz; ye nicān nicyōlītīz in tenānquiāhuatl, cuauhquiāhuatl, in Tōllān ohtli = Right here I will make the wall-doorway, the wood-doorway, the road to Tollan [i.e., the snare] (Atenango, between Mexico City and Acapulco, 1629)
Hernando Ruiz de Alarcón, Treatise on the Heathen Superstitions That Today Live Among the Indians Native to This New Spain, 1629, eds. and transl. J. Richard Andrews and Ross Hassig (Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1984), 96.

aocmo ceppa hualmocuep yn oncan Tullam = Never again did he return to Tollan (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 180–181.

Tecpatl xihuitl 1116. años. ypan inyn oncan hualmiquanique mexica yn oncan Cohuatepec, yn ihuicpa Tullan. = The year One Flint, 1116. At this time the Mexica moved on to Coatepec, toward Tollan. (central Mexico, early seveneenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 188–189.

quetzalcoatl, tullan tlatoanj catca = Quetzalcoatl was ruler of Tula (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 6 -- Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy, No. 14, Part 7, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1961), 219.

Attestations from sources in Spanish:

quetzalcoatl, tullan tlatoanj catca = Quetzalcoatl Rey de Tulla (centro de Mexico, s. XVI)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 6 -- Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy, No. 14, Part 7, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1961), 219.

yzcatqui yn intlatollo yn tolteca chichimeca ynic ualleuaque yn colhuacatepec ynic acico yn tollan yn imacica yn nonouallca oncan yn mocauhque y moxeloque yn tollan = He aquí el relato de los tolteca chichimeca, que vinieron de Colhuacatepec y llegaron a Tollan, con su complemento los nonoualca. Allá en Tollan se quedaron, se dividieron. (Quauhtinchan, s. XVI)
Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, eds. Paul Kirchhoff, Lina Odena Güemes, y Luis Reyes García (México: CISINAH, INAH-SEP, 1976), 141.

auh yn yeuantin yn tolteca chichimeca oc caxtolxiuhtillique yn oncan tollan = pero los tolteca chichmeca permanecieron aún 15 años en Tollan (Quauhtinchan, s. XVI)
Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, eds. Paul Kirchhoff, Lina Odena Güemes, y Luis Reyes García (México: CISINAH, INAH-SEP, 1976), 142.

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Origins (human, ethnic, towns)

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