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ArchivesRe: Itzel: is it really Mayan?
in reply to a message by Rene
Thank you for your help. I have found information about Ixchel already. I am just reluctant to assume that "Itzel" and "Ixchel" are the same name without direct confirmation. As I understand the orthography of Spanish/Mayan writing, these are not representations of the same sounds. "Itzel" would be "eet-sell", which "Ixchel" would be "eesh-chell", with the "ch" the same as the "ch" in English words like "chance". So Itzel and Ixchel could be just as different in Mayan as chin and shin or Chad and Shad are in English.
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I certainly see your point. I think it is valid.
It will be interesting to see whether somebody is able to come up with a "direct confirmation" as you define it. I am very skeptical because I rarely see such watertight information.
After all the change from "Ix Chel" to "Itzel" may have happened already several centuries ago. If it really did, how big is the probability that somebody was around to write into a book what happened, and the book survived into our times, and somebody reports about it now so that the people of this forum have access to the information?
A while ago I read an interesting book about etymology ("Word origins, and how we know about them" from Anatoly Liberman) and was surprised to learn that the etymology of "Jeep" is not known for sure, anyway certainly comes without "direct confirmation" for any of the different competing theories. Sometimes it even does not help that the whole world watches, and one fine day the new word ist just there and smiles at everybody :)
For me it all comes down to probability. After reviewing the information about Itzel on the Internet I personally would say that the moon goddess origin is rather probable. Some pleasant surprise notwithstanding I do not expect this story to advance significantly.
But of course I will watch this space...
Rene www.AboutNames.ch
It will be interesting to see whether somebody is able to come up with a "direct confirmation" as you define it. I am very skeptical because I rarely see such watertight information.
After all the change from "Ix Chel" to "Itzel" may have happened already several centuries ago. If it really did, how big is the probability that somebody was around to write into a book what happened, and the book survived into our times, and somebody reports about it now so that the people of this forum have access to the information?
A while ago I read an interesting book about etymology ("Word origins, and how we know about them" from Anatoly Liberman) and was surprised to learn that the etymology of "Jeep" is not known for sure, anyway certainly comes without "direct confirmation" for any of the different competing theories. Sometimes it even does not help that the whole world watches, and one fine day the new word ist just there and smiles at everybody :)
For me it all comes down to probability. After reviewing the information about Itzel on the Internet I personally would say that the moon goddess origin is rather probable. Some pleasant surprise notwithstanding I do not expect this story to advance significantly.
But of course I will watch this space...
Rene www.AboutNames.ch
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