Spanish words from Classical Nahuatl
7 Spanish words with Classical Nahuatl in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
aguacate
It is borrowed from Classical Nahuatl āhuacatl (“avocado; testicle”). Gómez de Silva and Santamaría explain the second meaning by the shape of the fruit. Corominas notes that Motolinía (1541) and…
cacao
It is borrowed from Classical Nahuatl cacahuatl (“cacao bean”), taken in the stem form cacáua that the word has in compounds. Corominas explains the ending: the Spaniards met the stem in compounds…
chile
It is borrowed from Classical Nahuatl chīlli (“chili pepper”). Molina's Nahuatl vocabulary of 1571 glosses the Nahuatl word as “ají, or pepper of the Indies”. The oldest form is chil, in a report by…
chocolate
It is borrowed from Classical Nahuatl chocolātl, a word of Aztec origin whose formation is uncertain. Loewe and Friederici, whom Corominas follows, conclude that it cannot be analysed except for its…
coyote
It is borrowed from Classical Nahuatl coyōtl (“coyote”), the Nahuatl name of the animal. The Academy glosses the Nahuatl word as “jackal”, the Spanish word with which Molina's vocabulary of 1571…
jacal
It is borrowed from Classical Nahuatl xahcalli, a word for a hut, which the Academy and the Mexican dictionaries write xacalli. Gómez de Silva and Robelo explain it as a compound of xāmitl (“adobe”)…
tomate
It is borrowed from Classical Nahuatl tomatl. In Nahuatl the word named the fruit that stays green when ripe, the tomatillo, while the red tomato was xitomatl, the source of Mexican jitomate…