Huehuetlatolli
/we.we.tɬaˈto.li/noun
A collection of traditional Nahua speeches, exhortations, and moral teachings preserved from pre-Columbian and early colonial Mexico.
Did you know?Huehuetlatolli were not casual sayings but formal rhetorical texts used to transmit moral authority, so in Nahua culture, words themselves functioned like inherited power.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Uto-Aztecan
PUA
*tɨɬa-
“to speak, say”
Classical Nahuatl
Nahuatl
huehue
“old, ancient; elder”
Classical Nahuatl
Nahuatl
tlatolli
“speech, word, discourse”
16th Century
Nahuatl
huehuetlatolli
“ancient speech; traditional moral discourse”
Modern English
English
huehuetlatolli
“a corpus of traditional Nahua speeches and teachings”