huitzilin.

Headword: 
huitzilin.
Principal English Translation: 

hummingbird (see Hunn, attestations); also, a personal name

IPAspelling: 
witsilin
Frances Karttunen: 

HUĪTZIL-IN hummingbird / pajarillo que zumba (S), chuparrosa, chupamirto, colibrí, chupamiel (T) [(2)Bf.10r,11r,(1)Tp.111.(3)Zp.30,39,156]. M has vitzitzilin with an additional syllable in the stem. T has the /K90/ variant HUĪTZTZĪTZIQUIH, and Z has the variant HUĪTZIQUITZIN. Despite the thorn-like shape of the hummingbird’s beak, B and T agree that the vowel of the first syllable is long, hence contrasting with HUITZ-TLI ‘thorn.’ Z does not mark the vowel long, and neither does X in synonymous HUITZACATZIN.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 90–91.

Attestations from sources in English: 

HUĪTZITZIL-I/HUĪTZITZIL-IN/HUĪTZIL-IN, hummingbirds (Trochilidae) [FC: 24 Vitzitzili] “The bill is black, slender, small and pointed, needle-pointed, needle-like. In shrubs, in trees it makes itself a nest, it lays eggs, sits, hatches its young. It has only two eggs; its young are rare. Its food is flower honey, flower nectar. It is whirring, active [in flight]; ashen in color…. It flies, darts, chirps. In the winter it hibernates. It inserts its bill in a tree; [hanging] there it shrinks, shrivels, molts.” Despite the misapprehension with regard to hibernations and rejuvenation, this is no doubt a general term for the Núm.us species of hummingbirds of Central Mexico. Regional dialect variants include HUITZACATZIN [Xalitsa], HUĪTZĪQUI-TZIN [Zacapoaxtla], HUĪTZTZĪTZIQUIH [Tetelcingo], all noted in Karttunen). This term serves as the generic head term for 10 distinct kinds of hummingbirds (of 11 recognized and named). The specific kinds of hummingbirds are rarely described in sufficient detail to allow for positive identification, and I find several of Martin del Campo’s guesses to be wide of the mark. I believe it is best to leave several unspecified. See also AYOPAL-HUĪTZIL-IN, CHALCHI-HUĪTZIL-IN, CUAPPACH-HUĪTZIL-IN, ECA-HUĪTZIL-IN, QUETZAL-HUĪTZIL-IN, TELOLO-HUĪTZIL-IN, TLAPAL-HUĪTZIL-IN, TLE-HUĪTZIL-IN, TOTOZCATLE-TON, XI-HUĪTZITZIL-IN, YAUHTIC HUĪTZIL-IN.
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 11 – Earthly Things, no. 14, Part XII, 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, 1963); Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (University of Oklahoma, Norman, 1983); Rafael Martín del Campo, “Ensayo de interpretación del Libro Undecimo de la Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España de Fray Bernardino de Sahagún – 11 Las Aves (1),” Anales del Instituto de Biología Tomo XI, Núm. 1 (México, D.F., 1940); and, with quotation selections, synthesis, and analysis here also appearing in E. S. Hunn, "The Aztec Fascination with Birds: Deciphering Sixteenth-Century Sources," unpublished manuscript, 2022, cited here with permission.

huítzilin , Yhuá Pizíetl Co pallí , Xochí ocotzotl. âhuí altic, totoch tin coamê, Zolimê; camochí ynin cenca míec quin míctiaya .y huá Yxpan qui hue n manaya ynin theoû Camaxtle = hummingbird, and tobacco incense, liquid nectar, rabbits, snakes, and quails— for they killed all these together and spread the offerings out before their god Camaxtli.
Anónimo mexicano, ed. Richley H. Crapo and Bonnie Glass-Coffin (Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 2005), 37.

Marcos Huitzil is mentioned in parish records of San Bartolomé Capulhuac (Acapulhuac, Capolohuac, etc.) of 1620. She married a Diego Lorenzo.
Salt Lake City, Geneaological Library, microfilm 695644, 1612–1651. Harvested from the microfilm by Stephanie Wood.

AYOPAL-HUĪTZIL-IN, literally, "purple dye hummingbird," perhaps the Violet-crowned Hummingbird (Amazilia violiceps) [FC: 24 Aiopalhujtzili] “… is light brown, the color of tunas {fruits of the prickly pear cactus}.” Martin del Campo identified this hummingbird as the Heloise, now Bumblebee, Hummingbird (Selasphorus heloisa). However, the sparce description does not support his identification. the combination of light brown and purple could describe the gray-brown back and violet-blue crown of the Violet-crowned Hummingbird, a common resident of the central Mexican highlands. See also HUĪTZIL-IN, hummingbird.
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 11 – Earthly Things, no. 14, Part XII, 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, 1963); Rafael Martín del Campo, “Ensayo de interpretación del Libro Undecimo de la Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España de Fray Bernardino de Sahagún – 11 Las Aves (1),” Anales del Instituto de Biología Tomo XI, Núm. 1 (México, D.F., 1940); and, with quotation selections, synthesis, and analysis here also appearing in E. S. Hunn, "The Aztec Fascination with Birds: Deciphering Sixteenth-Century Sources," unpublished manuscript, 2022, cited here with permission.

CHALCHI-HUĪTZIL-IN, literally, “jade hummingbird,” perhaps the Mexican Violetear (Colibri mexicanus) [FC: 24 Chalchihujtzili] “… is light green; a turquoise shade; herb-green." Martin del Campo identified this as the Broad-billed Hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris), a quite reasonable option; however, I believe that species is more likely named XI-HUĪTZITZIL-IN. See HUĪTZIL-IN hummingbird.
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 11 – Earthly Things, no. 14, Part XII, 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, 1963); Rafael Martín del Campo, “Ensayo de interpretación del Libro Undecimo de la Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España de Fray Bernardino de Sahagún – 11 Las Aves (1),” Anales del Instituto de Biología Tomo XI, Núm. 1 (México, D.F., 1940); and, with quotation selections, synthesis, and analysis here also appearing in E. S. Hunn, "The Aztec Fascination with Birds: Deciphering Sixteenth-Century Sources," unpublished manuscript, 2022, cited here with permission.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

Witsitsilin (El colibrí). "Un hombre descubre que todos los árboles que tumba están erguidos al siguiente día. Un conejo le dice que se trata de un pronóstico de que viene el diluvio. Al terminar el diluvio, Dios envía al zopilote a ver qué pasa en la tierra, pero éste se queda a comer cadáveres. Después envía al colibrí, el cual cumple con el mandato y, como premio, bebe la miel de las flores." (Escuchado en Ichcacuatitla, municipio de Chicontepec, Ver. Williams García, 1955, 4–5.)
Fernando Horcasitas, "La narrativa oral náhuatl (1920–1975)," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 13 (1978), 177–209, ver 184.