• niktemadur@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Nahuatl calling the planet

    Even the term “planet” here is noisy, as it implies knowledge of an orb floating and/or spinning in space.

    Maybe a better (less modern scientific) term in this case would be “world”, which could have been “what I have seen and have heard about, plus the regions beyond where dragons lie”, as an equivalent to “one, two, three, many”.

    • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
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      5 months ago

      Fair point - notlahtlacōl. “World” does seem more accurate.

      I wouldn’t be surprised if modern Nahuatl varieties used tlālticpactli to refer to the planet itself. (Still, my example is from Classical Nahuatl, so your correction is spot on.)