Cats are cool. Don’t you agree? They come in so many shapes and sizes, with plenty of different names to go with them. Each name has a story that’s interesting too.
Take the ocelot, for example.
Some sources say that the name came from a native word that means jaguar. Others say is a French word that refers to “eye-shaped spots.” However, I think that this one, like many names, has a bit more history than we realize.
Half of a Jaguar?
A few references point to ocelot coming from a Nahuatl (Aztec language) word meaning jaguar. Ocelotl didn’t change much, and they called ocelots tlalocolotl, meaning semi-jaguar.
Given the rich mythology and history of the Aztecs, this makes sense. The jaguar is a significantly larger cat, and shares similarities with the ocelot’s markings. It’s like saying…big cat and little cat. So, how did we wind up calling jaguars jaguars, and ocelots ocelots?
It goes back to a couple of anthropologists, named Arthur J.O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble. In their work translating the Florentine Codex, they appeared to believe that tlalocolotl and ocolotl were essentially interchangeable. Nevermind the fact that Nahuatl speakers called both the jaguar ocelotl and the ocelot tlalocolotl. The Nahua clearly knew the two as separate animals.
In the End…
Language is sometimes a tricky thing, and linguists have their work cut out for them. It grows, changes and evolves. Languages that we don’t use as often tend to fall by the wayside, taking the history and true flavor of the culture with them. It’s a sad fact, but not surprising.
That aside – the more we tell these amazing stories using native words, the more we understand our own history.
References
- Tezcatlipoca: https://www.worldhistory.org/Tezcatlipoca/
- God of the Month: https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/gods/god-of-the-month-tezcatlipoca
- Jaguars and Ocelots in history: https://blogs.uoregon.edu/mesoinstitute/about/curriculum-unit-development/stem/ethnozoology/jaguarsocelots/
