ichpochtli

Classical Nahuatl

Alternative forms

Etymology

Karttunen notes that ichpōchtli (maiden, young woman) and coordinate tēlpōchtli (young man) both form the plural by reduplicating the pōch- element, which suggests that *pōchtli, though not attested freely, is a stem in its own right, and that *ich- acts as a modifier. The word acquired the sense of “virgin” after the Spanish conquest.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [it͡ʃˈpoːt͡ʃ.t͡ɬi]

Noun

ichpōchtli (animate, plural ichpōpōchtin)

  1. maiden; a young, unmarried woman
  2. virgin
  3. (when possessed) daughter

Synonyms

Derived terms

References

  • Frances Karttunen (1992) An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl, University of Oklahoma Press, page 93
  • Horacio Carochi (2001) Grammar of the Mexican language with an explanation of its adverbs (1645), Stanford University Press, page 502
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