Ancient Nahuatl Poetry Brinton's Library of Aboriginal American Literature Number VII.

by Daniel Garrison Brinton

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Genres: Poetry

162 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1887

About the author

Daniel Garrison Brinton (1837-1899), was an American M.D. and surgeon in the Union army; became professor of ethnology and archaeology in the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia in 1884; and was professor of American linguistics and archaeology in the University of Pennsylvania from 1886 until his death.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata]

Sept 26, 3pm ~~ This was interesting and frustrating at the same time. I ended up extremely annoyed with the translator. What kind of editor does not write out a complete poem or its translation? If words in a poem are repeated, then show them, don't just put 'etc' and leave the poem in tatters. On behalf of all poets, ancient or modern, living or dead, I say GRRRR.

This book was published in 1890 so I imagine a more modern translation of these particular poems might be more accurate. The poems are printed side by side, Nahuatl on the left and English on the right. But the editor admits more than once that he was uncertain of the proper words at times and tried more for the spirit of the poem instead. But there were many times when a word that had been translated one way in one poem, was presented as something completely different in another.

I know that many words in many languages can mean many different things, but here it seemed to be a case of the translator getting bored at the similarity in some of the poems. Obviously there would have been reasons for that in the ancient times. The poems were generally to glorify a ruler (living or dead), to lament past times, to revel in the joy of battle after a victory against enemies. The editor himself said they were meant to be sung at court, so I would assume they would be quite formal with a certain style that was expected to be followed.

This careless handling of the translations added to my irritation and seemed to me a lack of respect on the translator's part. Besides that, I began to lose my belief that the man truly understood the language. What if he was merely guessing more than even he admitted?

I cannot speak Nahuatl, but I love the long complicated words and the sound of it being spoken. I lived in central Mexico for eight years. The language is not dead, I heard it spoken often. Museum signs are generally produced in three languages: Nauhatl, Spanish, and English. It is a complex but lovely language. I'm sorry that I was unable to take advantage of a chance to attend classes to learn how to speak it. If I was able to have a do-over, I would get myself to class somehow!

Here I read the poems aloud, hopelessly mangling the words, I'm sure, but loving the idea that maybe in some ancient plaza of the universe the Old Ones would be hearing my attempts and laughing at my twisted tongue.

Whose tongue would not be twisted when trying to speak these words:
Ay ca nichocaya nicuicanitl ya icha ahuicaloyan cuicatl ha Mictlan temohuiloya yectliya xochitl onca ya oncaa y yao ohuayan ca ya ilaca tziuhan ca na y yo.

That is verse seven of song twenty-two, one of many of the 27 poems that pre-date the arrival of the Spaniards.

The translation is given as:
I the poet cry out a song for a place of joy, a glorious song which descends to Mictlan, and there turns about and comes forth again.

One nifty feature of this book is that each song has notes that delve a bit more into the meaning of some of the words, and discuss the timing of the poem. The majority were pre-Conquest, and were much more interesting than the few that were written in later years.

And there is a nice vocabulary of words and place names. I will be keeping this link handy, for the vocabulary and to revisit the poems Someday.

But I am still annoyed with Mr. Brinton!

[Asaria]

The poems didn't work for me as they are very verbose/wordy, but they are an interesting testimony of the culture destroyed by Missionaries and Spain invaders.

[Kristyn]

The Nahuatl poetry as translated by Brinton in this book feels as if you are in engaged in rich, passionate prayer, either in praise, supplication, or sorrow. Brinton's introduction and notes lend historical context as well as apology for "the best rendering I could give them at present."

The book contains both the original Nahuatl text and Brinton's English translation.

Here is an excerpt:
IV. An Otomi Song of the Mexicans:
3. "In the true spirit of song I lifted my voice through a trumpet of gold, I let fall from my lips a celestial song, I shall speak notes precious and brilliant as those of the miaua bird, I shall cause to blossom out a noble new song, I lifted my voice like the burning incense of flowers, so that I the singer might cause joy before the face of the Cause of All."

This was originally published in 1890, and I am interested to find more modern translations.

[Ring Chime]

Not actually ancient, but I enjoyed reading them.