246 



NOTES. 



the same manner tlatolana, to ask, and tetlatolaniliztli, 

 a demand ; tlayhiouiltia, to torment, and tetlayhiouilti- 

 liztli, torment. To form the plural, the Aztecks in se- 

 veral words double the first syllable ; as miztli, a cat, 

 mimiztin, cats ; tochtli, a rabbit, totochiin, rabbits. Tin 

 is the termination which indicates the plural. Some- 

 times the duplication is made in the midst of a word; 

 for instance, ichpochtli, a girl, ichpopochtin, girls ; tel- 

 pochtli, a boy, telpopochtin, boys. The most remark- 

 able example I have met with of a real composition of 

 words is found in the word amatlacuilolitquitcatlaxtla- 

 huilli, which signifies the reward given to the mes- 

 senger, who carries a paper, on which is indicated, in 

 symbolic characters, or in painting, some tidings to be 

 transmitted. This word, which forms by itself an 

 Alexandrine line, contains amatl, paper of the Ameri- 

 can agave; cuiloa, to paint, trace significative charac- 

 racters ; and tlaxtlahuilli, the payment or salary of a 

 workman. In the Azteck language the letters, B, D, 

 F, G, and R are wanting (Carlos de Tapia Zenteno, 

 Cura de Tampamolon, Arte novissima de Lingua Mex- 

 icana, 1753, p. 7)- So in the Biscayan language we 

 do not find the letter F, and there is no word which be- 

 gins by an R. However distinct certain languages ap- 

 pear at first sight, however extraordinary their caprices 

 or idioms, all have an analogy with each other ; and 

 these multifarious relations will be perceived, in pro- 

 portion as the philosophic history of nations, and the 

 study of languages, which are at once the production of 

 the intelligence, and the expression of the individual 

 character of man, shall be brought to perfection. 



Page 63. First age of the Earth. The Franciscan 

 monk, Andres de Olmos, well versed in the different 

 languages of Mexico, of which he composed gram- 



