''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 ''mati'' "to know" with the

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Particularly in the study of languages, a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the word to which it is affixed. Prefixes, like other affixes, can b ...

''tla-'' indicating an unspecified inanimate object translatable by "something" and the derivational

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

''-ni'' meaning "a person who is 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 refers to the ''tlamatini'' as philosophers and they are the subject of his book ''Aztec Thought and Culture''.

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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 Aztec philosophy