tzotzopaztli. | Nahuatl Dictionary

Headword:

tzotzopaztli.

Principal English Translation:

a batten (a weaving implement that was used for pressing down the fibers on the backstrap loom); this was an object that was gendered, being associated with women's work

IPAspelling:

tsoːtsopɑːstɬi

Alonso de Molina:

tzotzopaztli. palo ancho como cuchilla con que tupen y aprietan la tela quese texe.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 154r. col. 2. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Frances Karttunen:

TZŌTZOPĀZ-TLI weaver’s reed, stick to push down and tighten the weft / palo ancho como cuchilla con que tupen y aprietan la tela que se teje (M) [(2)Bf.2r,10v, (1)Tp.245, (2)Zp.96,227]. One of the two attestations in B has the vowel of the first syllable specifically marked short, but the other attestation in B has it marked long, as it is in T and Z. This implies the verbs TZOP(A) ‘to finish weaving something’ and intransitive TZOP(I) ‘for a piece of weaving to get finished,’ both of which are in M.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 320.

Attestations from sources in English:

See an image that represents tzotzopaztli in the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, ed. Stephanie Wood (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities, 2020-present).

Neanonj, mecamaxalli, quatzontli, xiiotl, otlatl, tzotzopaztli cacalaca, patlaoac: tzotzopaztli pitzaoac, omjtzotzopaztli, tzotzopaztepiton, ic tlamachioa:teçacatl, tlaujteconj, malacatl, tzaoalcaxitl = [Theirs were] the device with which [the loom] was held; the divided cord; the skein; the shuttle; the cane stalks; the wide batten, which swished [as it was used]; the thin batten, one made of bone; the small batten with which they worked designs; the heddle; the flail; the spindle whorl; the spinning bowl (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), 49.

aço ytlacavi in içivatequivh ym moteneva y malacatl ŷ tzotzopaztli = perhaps the womanly work, what is called the spindle whorl, the batten, was done badly (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 230.

yoan centlapal qujtzitzquja, itzotzopaz = and in [the other] hand she bore her weaving stick (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2 -- The Ceremonies, no. 14, Part III, 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), 143.

tzotzopazpitzavac teçacatl = thin battens, thick straws
(central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 207.

ytzotzopaz = her batten
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 106.

tlein qujtta in ma yuh cioatioa, cujx vel malacatl, cujx vel tzotzopaztli: Ca anommati in njxco, nocpac, auh ca avel cententli, cencamatl njcqujxtia, in jhijotl, in tlatolli = What do they see [in me]? It is as if a woman is acquired, perhaps capable of womanly skills; for I am an imbecile, and I cannot bring forth a word or two of discourse (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), 61.

Auh in cihoapiltontli, qujcencavilia cuetontli, vipiltontli, ioan in jxqujch cioatlatqujtl, tanatontli, malacatl, tzotzopaztli = And they prepared for the baby girl a little skirt, a little shift, and all the equipment of women, the little reed basket, the spinning whorl, the batten (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), 205.

themes:

Textiles, Clothing

Women, Men, Gender