a la China. | Nahuatl Dictionary

(a loanword from Spanish)

Headword:

a la China.

Principal English Translation:

China; in China; from China; or, (ditto) the Philippines; or, (ditto) the Orient; or, having to do with Asia (Notice how this is an entire phrase made into one word that, in meaning, ignores the imbedded preposition and article.)

Orthographic Variants:

alachina, ala china, a la china, a la China, ala China, allachina

Horacio Carochi / English:

alachina = to China; or, the Philippines
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), 384–85.

Attestations from sources in English:

The incorporation of ala- (a la, or, to the) at the front of a location shows influence from Spanish. References to China usually meant the Philippines. Other examples include alahuerta and alaflorida.
For further explanation and examples, see James Lockhart, The Nahuas after the Conquest: A Social and Cultural History of the Indians of Central Mexico, Sixteenth through Eighteenth Centuries (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992), 567 n108.

Domingo a vii. de diziembre de 1597. años. yc ontetl Dominica aduien[t]o in yehuatzin fray Juan de castillo yc motemachtilli quimote- caquitilli ynic momiquillique teopixque yn ompa a la china chiquacemintin Sant. Franco ypil- huantzitzin descalços teopixque. = “Sunday, the 7th of December of the year 1597, the second Sunday of Advent, fray Juan del Castillo preached about and announced to the people that friars in China [the Orient] had died, six Franciscan friars, the Discalced” (Chimalpahin 2006: 62). [annals (AHT, AJB); time range: 1564–1610)]
Loans in Colonial and Modern Nahuatl, eds. Agnieszka Brylak, Julia Madajczak, Justyna Olko, and John Sullivan, Trends in Linguistics Documentation 35, ed. Volker Gast (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), 61.

Auh axcan ypan metztli febrero de 1610 años yquac omachiztico ohualla tlahtolli yn ompa a la china vmpa omomiquilli yn itlaço- tzin tto. Dios. Don fr. Pedro de agurdo obispo de Sepon ynin Sant. Augustin teopixqui. = "Now in the month of February of the year 1610, was when it became known here and word came from China that the beloved of our lord God, don fray Pedro de Agurto, bishop of Japan, who was an Augustinian friar, passed away there” (Chimalpahin 2006: 162). [annals (AHT, AJB); time range: 1564–1610)]
Loans in Colonial and Modern Nahuatl, eds. Agnieszka Brylak, Julia Madajczak, Justyna Olko, and John Sullivan, Trends in Linguistics Documentation 35, ed. Volker Gast (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), 61.

Yn ipan axcan Domingo yc vi. mani metztli de diziembre de 1598. años. yquac ye teotlac maxitico yn imomi- yotzin descalço Pe.me. yn momiquillique xabon, yn ipan tlalli a la china. = “Today, Sunday, the 6th of the month of December of the year 1598, in the afternoon, was when the bones of the Dis- calced fathers who died in Japan, in the land of China, arrived” (Chimalpahin 2006: 64). [annals (AHT, AJB); time range: 1564–1610)]
Loans in Colonial and Modern Nahuatl, eds. Agnieszka Brylak, Julia Madajczak, Justyna Olko, and John Sullivan, Trends in Linguistics Documentation 35, ed. Volker Gast (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), 61.

Yn ipan axcan yc 8. mani metztli. de diciembre de 1605. años. yquac omachiztico. omicohuac yn a la china. = “Today, the 8th of the month of December of the year 1605, was when it became known that there were deaths in China [the Philippines]” (Chimalpahin 2006: 88). [annals (AHT, AJB); time range: 1564–1610)]
Loans in Colonial and Modern Nahuatl, eds. Agnieszka Brylak, Julia Madajczak, Justyna Olko, and John Sullivan, Trends in Linguistics Documentation 35, ed. Volker Gast (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), 61.

Lunes a 27 de março de 1564 a[ñ]os yquac momiquilli yaoq[ui]zca capitan a la China yazquia (Anales de Juan Bautista 2001: 190). = "Monday the 27th of March of the year 1564 was when the captain of the soldiers died, he was going to go to the Philippines." [annals (AHT, AJB); time range: 1564–1610)]
Loans in Colonial and Modern Nahuatl, eds. Agnieszka Brylak, Julia Madajczak, Justyna Olko, and John Sullivan, Trends in Linguistics Documentation 35, ed. Volker Gast (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), 61.

Axcan lunes. yc .7. mani metztli Março de 1611 años. yhquac nican mexico. quiz. onpeuh. yn sebastian vizcayno. vezino. mexico. general mochiuhtia. yn a la china acalli yc yah vmpa a la china. “Today, Monday, the 7th of the month of March of the year 1611, was when Sebastián Vizcaíno, citizen of Mexico, set out and left Mexico here; he was appointed the general of the China boats going to China [the Philip- pines]” (Chimalpahin 2006: 174). [annals (AHT); time range: 1611–1613]
Loans in Colonial and Modern Nahuatl, eds. Agnieszka Brylak, Julia Madajczak, Justyna Olko, and John Sullivan, Trends in Linguistics Documentation 35, ed. Volker Gast (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020), 61.

themes:

Names (places)