Abstract

DEHOUVE, Danièle. The Names of the Aztec Gods: Towards a Pragmatic Interpretation. Trace (Méx. DF) [online]. 2017, n.71, pp.9-39. ISSN 2007-2392.  https://doi.org/10.22134/trace.71.2017.27.

Aztec gods received different names, ranging between four and thirty, several of which could be shared by different deities. The article carries out a pragmatic interpretation of these names in their context, taking as an example the thirty names of Tezcatlipoca and the terminology of kinship applied to the deities. Contrary to what the majority of the researchers believe, it shows that the fact that two gods share the same name does not mean they have a closely related identity, since the divine names are polysemous. It proposes that the system of nomination of the gods obeys two organizing principles, a series of activities that defines the function and a series of functions that defines the identity of the god.

Keywords : names; gods; Aztecs; Tezcatlipoca; kinship.

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