Delicious English Words (Chocolate, Guacamole) with Aztec Roots

Most people like chocolate, but most of us probably don’t know from which language the English word originates. Take a guess. Perhaps you thought of Spanish, because the word “chocolate” in that language is “chocolate.” Sorry, that’s not right. However, Spanish speakers who encountered the Aztecs do have something to do with it. Keep reading to learn about a few English words that come from an Aztec language, Nahuatl.

Who Speaks Nahuatl?

Nahuatl is one of 62 individual languages in the Uto-Aztecan family, and it is spoken today by about half a million people in central and northern Mexico. It was spoken in the city of Tenochtitlán when Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs in 1521. In the early 16th century, the Aztec empire, also known as the Mexica empire, had control of around 5 to 6 million people.

Chocolate 

Now back to chocolate. You might have heard that the famous Aztec leader Montezuma consumed chocolate, but he did so in a very different way than a modern person, who might nibble on a chocolate bar. The English word “chocolate” entered our language between 1595 and 1605. It comes from the Nahuatl word “xocolatl”— spelled x-o-c-o-l-a-t-l. This Nahuatl word comes from “xococ,” which means “sour, bitter,” plus “atl,” which means “water.” This origin gives us a clue as to how the Aztecs used chocolate. It was a bitter drink brewed with cacao beans. It was a frothy beverage, and it seems that Montezuma added vanilla and spices to it. 

The Aztecs weren’t the first to use chocolate, though. The Olmec people, who lived in Mesoamerica, first cultivated cacao plants around 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. They believed that chocolate had “mystic qualities.” Interestingly, the Latin name for the cacao tree means “food of the gods.” The Olmec passed on knowledge of the cacao plant to the Maya, who then passed on a liking for chocolate to the Aztecs. And then the Spanish came. Spaniards spread the use of chocolate to other Europeans, who modified it for their tastes, until it became the chocolate that we typically enjoy today.

The first modern chocolate bar appeared in 1847, when the British company J.S. Fry & Sons created one using “cocoa butter, cocoa powder and sugar.” 

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Other Food Words 

Various other food-related words come from Nahuatl. One is “avocado,” which originates from the Nahuatl word “āhuacatl.” The English word “avocado” was first used in English around 1690. 

Another food word that comes from Nahuatl is “tomato,” which comes from the similar-sounding Nahuatl word “tomatl.” This first came into English in about 1595. 

“Chili” also comes from Nahuatl. The Nahuatl word “chīlli,” as you might guess, means “chili pepper.” 

All of these words might be making you think of guacamole, a word that also comes from Nahuatl. In that language, it is something like “āhuacamōlli.” The beginning part of this word is the Nahuatl word for “avocado,” as we have seen. The second part, “mōlli,” means “sauce.” For those of you who are unfamiliar with the yummy concoction called guacamole, it is a Mexican dip made of avocado, tomato, onions, and spices, and maybe lemon or lime. Another famous Mexican dish is mole, which contains a flavorful sauce made of various ingredients, including chocolate, chilis, and spices. 

Animals 

Now let’s switch gears from food to animals. Can you think of some creatures that might have roamed around the Aztec empire? A coyote might have. In Nahuatl, this animal was called a “coyōtl.” English speakers began using this word in about 1825. Another animal word with a Nahuatl origin is the now-endangered ocelot. It was known as the “ōcēlōtl,” which translates as “jaguar.” An ocelot is not the same as a jaguar, though they might look similar. The scientific name of an ocelot is Leopardus pardalis, whereas that of a jaguar is Panthera onca. 

Before we finish and perhaps go eat some chocolate or guacamole, I want to mention one other animal word that comes from the Nahuatl language. You might have heard of the mythic Aztec serpent god Quetzalcoatl. In Nahuatl, “cōātl” means “snake.” Although the quetzalcoatl is not a real animal, a quetzal is. This brightly colored bird is the national bird of Guatemala. 

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed going back a few centuries to see how an Aztec language contributed some words that we regularly use in English.

That segment was written by Bonnie Mills, author of The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier, who blog at sentencesleuth.blogspot.com.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.