xapotla. | Nahuatl Dictionary

Headword:

xapotla.

Principal English Translation:

to perforate, to pierce; also, to deflower a virgin
Louise M. Burkhart, Before Guadalupe: The Virgin Mary in Early Colonial Nahuatl Literature, Institute for Mesoamerican Studies Monograph 13 (Albany: University at Albany, 2001), 58.

IPAspelling:

ʃɑpotɬɑ

Alonso de Molina:

xapotla. nite. (pret. onitexapotlac.) desflorar o corromper virgen.
xapotla. nitla. (pret. onitlaxapotlac.) horadar o romper pared, seto o cosa semejante.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 158v. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Attestations from sources in English:

quin tehuatl yancuican oticmahuizpolo, oticxapotlac oticcuilli in iichpochyo = did you just now for the first time disgrace her, deflowering and spoiling her and taking her virginity from her?
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), 105.

This verb is used to speak of ritual piercing of the septum in the nose (yacaxapotla). (sixteenth century, Quauhtinchan)
Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, eds. Paul Kirchhoff, Lina Odena Güemes, y Luis Reyes García (México: CISINAH, INAH-SEP, 1976), 171.

Attestations from sources in Spanish:

quin tehuatl yancuican oticmahuizpolo, oticxapotlac oticcuilli in iichpochyo = quitástele la honra tu, estrupándola
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), 104–105.

themes:

Crime, Punishment

Health, Sickness, Wellness, Medicine

Sexuality, Fertility, Reproduction

Women, Men, Gender