David Bowles @davidbowles.us · Apr 29

In the poem [see image], I use the term "teyolia" because it's the most common name used by scholars. It should be spelled "teyoliya," and it's what we call a "possessed" noun. The te- prefix means "belonging to people / a person / someone." -yoliya is "yolihuani" in possessed form. 4/

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David Bowles · Apr 29

There are lots of nouns in Nahuatl that just don't normally appear in their absolutive (dictionary) form; they are almost always possessed. So one doesn't use "nantli" (mother) in speech; instead, one says "monan" (your mother), etc., or "tenan" (someone's mother), when you don't know her. 5/