ahuatl

ahuatl (inanimate)

1. oak tree.

From Proto-Nahuan *aawa-tl, from Proto-Uto-Aztecan *pawa-ta, with possible reinforcement from āhuātl (“horn”, see sense below) due to the tree’s antler-shaped branches.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈaː.wat͡ɬ]

āhuatl (inanimate)

1. oak tree
   • 1555, Alonso de Molina, Aqui comienca vn vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana, f. 109r:

     Enzina.   auaquauitl.auatl.

     An oak tree.   auaquauitl. auatl.

   • Idem, f. 216v.

     Roble arbol.  auaquauitl. auatl.

     An oak tree.  auaquauitl. auatl.

   • 1571, Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, f. 57v. col. 1:

     Enzina. auaquauitl. auatl.

     An oak tree. auaquauitl. auatl.

   • Idem, f. 105r. col. 2.

     Roble arbol. auaquauitl. auatl.

     An oak tree. auaquauitl. auatl.

   • Idem, f. 9r. col. 2.

     Auatl. enzina,roble, guſano lanudo. o eſpina.

     Auatl. an oak tree, a woolly worm, or a thorn.

• āhuacuahuitl
• āhuatlah
• āhuatomatl

From Proto-Nahuan *aawaa-tl, possibly from Proto-Uto-Aztecan *aw~awaC-ta (“horn”, via reduplication), based on the insect’s horns.^[2]

• IPA^(key): [ˈaː.waːt͡ɬ]

āhuātl (animate)

1. A woolly kind of caterpillar.
   • 1571, Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, f. 9r. col. 2:

     Auatl. enzina,roble, guſano lanudo. o eſpina.

     Auatl. an oak tree, a woolly worm, or a thorn.

   • 1645, Horacio Carochi, Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaración de los adverbios della:

     āhuātl, ambas largas, gusano lanudo de arbol.

     āhuātl, with both vowels long, a woolly tree worm.

• āhuātecolōtl

ahuatl (inanimate)

1. obsolete spelling of ahhuatl

• Carochi, Horacio (2001), James Lockhart, transl., Grammar of the Mexican Language, with an Explanation of its Adverbs (1645), Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, pages 466–467
• Karttunen, Frances (1983), An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl, Austin: University of Texas Press, page 8