''Tlamatini'' (plural ''tlamatinime'') is a
Nahuatl language word meaning "someone who knows something", generally translated as "wise man". The word is analyzable as derived from the
transitive verb
A transitive verb is a verb that accepts one or more objects, for example, 'cleaned' in ''Donald cleaned the window''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not have objects, for example, 'panicked' in ''Donald panicked''.
Transiti ...
''mati'' "to know" with the
prefix ''tla-'' indicating an unspecified
inanimate object
Object may refer to:
General meanings
* Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept
** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place
** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter
* Goal, an ...
translatable by "something" and the derivational
suffix ''-ni'' meaning "a person who are characterized by ...": hence tla-mati-ni "a person who is characterized by knowing something" or more to the point "a knower".
The famous Nahuatl language translator and interpreter
Miguel León-Portilla
Miguel León-Portilla (22 February 1926 – 1 October 2019) was a Mexican anthropologist and historian, specializing in Aztec culture and literature of the pre-Columbian and colonial eras. Many of his works were translated to English and he was ...
refers to the ''tlamatini'' as philosophers and they are the subject of his book ''Aztec Thought and Culture''.
See also
*
Shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...
Notes
References
*
Internet Archive copy
* {{cite book , author=León-Portilla, Miguel , author-link=Miguel León-Portilla , year=1963 , title=Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Náhuatl Mind , series=Civilization of the American Indian series, #67, translator=Jack Emory Davis , location=Norman , publisher=
University of Oklahoma Press
The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established ...
, oclc=181727
Nahuatl words and phrases
Mexican philosophers