(a loanword from Spanish)
Headword:
Magdalena.
Principal English Translation:
a saint's name, given to indigenous women upon baptism, beginning in the 16th c.; interesting, too, for the orthographic variations in writing it in Nahuatl; also a patron saint (María Magdalena) from some communities (see attestations)
Orthographic Variants:
Matarena. Magdalenan, Madalena
Attestations from sources in English:
yziuhauh vmoquatequi matarena = He has a wife, baptized Magdalena(Cuernavaca region, ca. 1540s)