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Translations and Transcriptions
Spanish Translation
[Translation of the Nahuatl into Spanish by Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún; transcription of the Spanish (left-hand column) by James Lockhart:] [f. 1v.] por la parte del oriente, luego despues de la media noche, y salia con tanto resplandor que parecia el dia; llegaua hasta la mañana enconce se perdia de vista, quando salia el sol, estaua la llama en el lugar que esta el sol a mediodia esto duro por espacio de vn año cada noche: començo en las doze casas y quando parecia a la medianoche toda la gente gritaua y se espantaua todos sospechauan que era señal de algū grā mal. La segunda senal,* que acontecio, fue que el chapitel** de un cu de vitzilobuchtli que se llamaua Tlacatecca, se encendio milagrosamente, y se quemo: parecia que las llamas del fuego salian de dētro de los maderos de las colunas, y muy de presto se hizo ceniza, quando ardia començaron los satrapas a dar vozes diziendo. O Mexicanos venid presto a apagar el fuego con cantaros de ---------- *SENAL. For "señal." The omission of the tilde, probably a phenomenon of speech as well as of orthography, is quite common in the text and will not be noted henceforth. **CHAPITEL. The word is defined as the head of a pillar, but the intention here seems to be the pillar itself, as in the Nahuatl.
English Translation
[Translation of the Nahuatl (right-hand column) by James Lockhart:] of the sky, its very heart and center. It showed itself off to the east. When it came out at midnight it appeared like the dawn. When dawn came, then the sun on coming out effaced it. For a full year it showed itself (it was in [the year] Twelve House that it began). And when it would appear there was an outcry, and people would hit their hands against their mouths as they yelled. People were taken aback, they lamented. The second omen that happened here in Mexico was that of its own accord the house of the devil Huitzilopochtli, what they call his mountain, named Tlacateccan, burned and flared up; no one set fire to it, it just took fire itself. When the fire was seen, the wooden pillars were already burning. Tongues and tassels of flame were coming from inside; very quickly they consumed [Translation of the Spanish (left-hand column) by James Lockhart:] in the east, right after midnight, and it came out with such splendor that it seemed to be daytime; it continued until morning, then it was lost from view. When the sun rose, the flame was in the place where the sun is at midday. This lasted for a year, every night, beginning in Twelve House. When it appeared at midnight, all the people would shout and take fright; everyone suspected that it was a sign of some great evil. The second sign that occurred was that the ornamented pillar of a cu [temple] of Huitzilopochtli, called Tlacateccan, miraculously took fire and burned. The tongues of flame seemed to come from inside the wooden columns, and when it burned it quickly turned to ashes. The satraps [priests] began to shout, saying “O Mexica, come quickly to put out the fire with jars of
Analytic Transcription
[Transcription of the Nahuatl (right-hand column) by James Lockhart:] [f. 1v.] in aciticac ilhuicatl, vel ilhuicaiollotitech aciticac, in iuh ittoia vmpa tlapcopa: in oalmoquetzaia, oiuh onquiz ioalnepantla in necia tlatviliaia, ipan tlatvia, q’n iehoatl quioalpoloaia in tonatiuh, in iquac oalquiçaia: vel ce xivitl in oalmoquetzaia (ipan matlactli omume calli in peuh). Auh in iquac necia tlacaoacaia, netenvitecoia, neiçaviloia, tlatemma* Inic vntetl tetzavitl muchiuh, nican mexico: çan monomavi in tlatlac, cuetlan, aiac ma quitlecavi, çan monomatlecavi in ical diablo vitzilobuchtli: mitoaia, iteioc** itocaiocan Tlacateccan: in nez ie tlatla in tlaquetzalli, initoc, oalquiça in tlemiiaoatl, in tlenenepilli, in tlecueçalutl, cenca çan iciuhca compalo in ---------- *TLATEMMA. Read “tlatemmachoia.” See Sahagún 1950-1982: 13.2. Although the verb often means "to be lazy, inactive," and so appears later in the text, here its second meaning, “to tell one’s troubles,” seems more apt. When I say “read” in relation to Nahuatl passages, I am fairly confident that the following form was the intention of the writer. Such is not the case with the readings offered for dubious, deficient, or deviant forms in the Spanish text. **ITEIOC. This form, which would be “his rock (inalienable, locative),” is a mistake for “itepeioc,” “his mountain”; Sahagún 1950-1982: 13.2, points out that the Real Palacio manuscript in fact has “itepeyoc.”
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Spanish Translation
[Translation of the Nahuatl into Spanish by Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún; transcription of the Spanish (left-hand column) by James Lockhart:] [f. 1v.] por la parte del oriente, luego despues de la media noche, y salia con tanto resplandor que parecia el dia; llegaua hasta la mañana enconce se perdia de vista, quando salia el sol, estaua la llama en el lugar que esta el sol a mediodia esto duro por espacio de vn año cada noche: començo en las doze casas y quando parecia a la medianoche toda la gente gritaua y se espantaua todos sospechauan que era señal de algū grā mal. La segunda senal,* que acontecio, fue que el chapitel** de un cu de vitzilobuchtli que se llamaua Tlacatecca, se encendio milagrosamente, y se quemo: parecia que las llamas del fuego salian de dētro de los maderos de las colunas, y muy de presto se hizo ceniza, quando ardia començaron los satrapas a dar vozes diziendo. O Mexicanos venid presto a apagar el fuego con cantaros de ---------- *SENAL. For "señal." The omission of the tilde, probably a phenomenon of speech as well as of orthography, is quite common in the text and will not be noted henceforth. **CHAPITEL. The word is defined as the head of a pillar, but the intention here seems to be the pillar itself, as in the Nahuatl.
English Translation
[Translation of the Nahuatl (right-hand column) by James Lockhart:] of the sky, its very heart and center. It showed itself off to the east. When it came out at midnight it appeared like the dawn. When dawn came, then the sun on coming out effaced it. For a full year it showed itself (it was in [the year] Twelve House that it began). And when it would appear there was an outcry, and people would hit their hands against their mouths as they yelled. People were taken aback, they lamented. The second omen that happened here in Mexico was that of its own accord the house of the devil Huitzilopochtli, what they call his mountain, named Tlacateccan, burned and flared up; no one set fire to it, it just took fire itself. When the fire was seen, the wooden pillars were already burning. Tongues and tassels of flame were coming from inside; very quickly they consumed [Translation of the Spanish (left-hand column) by James Lockhart:] in the east, right after midnight, and it came out with such splendor that it seemed to be daytime; it continued until morning, then it was lost from view. When the sun rose, the flame was in the place where the sun is at midday. This lasted for a year, every night, beginning in Twelve House. When it appeared at midnight, all the people would shout and take fright; everyone suspected that it was a sign of some great evil. The second sign that occurred was that the ornamented pillar of a cu [temple] of Huitzilopochtli, called Tlacateccan, miraculously took fire and burned. The tongues of flame seemed to come from inside the wooden columns, and when it burned it quickly turned to ashes. The satraps [priests] began to shout, saying “O Mexica, come quickly to put out the fire with jars of
Analytic Transcription
[Transcription of the Nahuatl (right-hand column) by James Lockhart:] [f. 1v.] in aciticac ilhuicatl, vel ilhuicaiollotitech aciticac, in iuh ittoia vmpa tlapcopa: in oalmoquetzaia, oiuh onquiz ioalnepantla in necia tlatviliaia, ipan tlatvia, q’n iehoatl quioalpoloaia in tonatiuh, in iquac oalquiçaia: vel ce xivitl in oalmoquetzaia (ipan matlactli omume calli in peuh). Auh in iquac necia tlacaoacaia, netenvitecoia, neiçaviloia, tlatemma* Inic vntetl tetzavitl muchiuh, nican mexico: çan monomavi in tlatlac, cuetlan, aiac ma quitlecavi, çan monomatlecavi in ical diablo vitzilobuchtli: mitoaia, iteioc** itocaiocan Tlacateccan: in nez ie tlatla in tlaquetzalli, initoc, oalquiça in tlemiiaoatl, in tlenenepilli, in tlecueçalutl, cenca çan iciuhca compalo in ---------- *TLATEMMA. Read “tlatemmachoia.” See Sahagún 1950-1982: 13.2. Although the verb often means "to be lazy, inactive," and so appears later in the text, here its second meaning, “to tell one’s troubles,” seems more apt. When I say “read” in relation to Nahuatl passages, I am fairly confident that the following form was the intention of the writer. Such is not the case with the readings offered for dubious, deficient, or deviant forms in the Spanish text. **ITEIOC. This form, which would be “his rock (inalienable, locative),” is a mistake for “itepeioc,” “his mountain”; Sahagún 1950-1982: 13.2, points out that the Real Palacio manuscript in fact has “itepeyoc.”
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