tehuetzquiti.

Headword: 
tehuetzquiti.
Principal English Translation: 

buffoon, joker; or, something that makes someone laugh (see Molina)

Orthographic Variants: 
teuetzquiti
Alonso de Molina: 

teuetzquiti. cosa donosa que haze reyr, o chocarrero o dezidor.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 111v. col. 2. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Attestations from sources in English: 

"Laughable," "Lovely, Makes People Laugh," "Makes People Frightened," etc. Gran Diccionario Náhuatl entry for Tehuetzquiti, https://gdn.iib.unam.mx/diccionario/tehuetzquiti/62086.

See the two personal name glyphs for Huetzquiz in the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, which are both grotesque mouths with fangs. They could be funny or frightening, or both. These are very similar to the name glyph for the ruler Tehuetzquiti in the Codex Aubin (see Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_de_San_Francisco_Tehuetzquititzin#/m....)

Consider also: "Xolopi'tli (~ xolopitli, xolopihtli) 'idiot, fool'.... You can find the term in Frances Karttunen's Analytical Dictionary. For 'crazy' there's a (Zacapoaxtla) dialect term cua:(yo:l)quepi. Then there's Classical Nahuatl i:xtepetla for someone stupid, an ignoramus. Classical te:huetzqui:ti' is 'buffoon, joker'."
Gordon Whittaker, linguistics professor, Germany; Nahuat-L listserv posting, Jan. 14, 2010.

"A lot of the indigenous professors at IDIEZ in Zacatecas and I tease each other by saying 'tihuihuiti' or 'tihuihuitic.' Most of them are speakers of eastern (Huastecan) Nahuatl from Veracruz and we've all understood the phrase as either 'you are crazy' or 'you have already turned crazy,' but in a joking and teasing manner, obviously. I hope that helps!"
Rafael Benavides; Nahuat-L listserv posting, Jan. 14, 2010.

themes: