Tepoztopilli
/te.posˈto.pi.li/noun
A Nahuatl term for an Aztec spear or pole weapon with a metal or stone-tipped head.
Did you know?The name combines Classical Nahuatl tepoztli, “metal,” with topilli, “staff” or “rod,” revealing how the weapon was conceptually classified by its material and shape.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian period
Proto-Nahuan
*tepoztli + *topilli
“Metal or hard material + staff or rod; reconstructed ancestral elements underlying the later compound”
15th–16th Century
Classical Nahuatl
tepoztopilli
“A metal staff or pole weapon, used for a spear-like weapon in Central Mexican warfare”
16th Century
Spanish transcription
tepoztopilli
“Nahuatl weapon name recorded by Spanish chroniclers using the Latin alphabet”
20th Century
English
tepoztopilli
“A specialized historical term for an Aztec spear or pole weapon”
Modern English
English
tepoztopilli
“A scholarly and popular-history loanword referring to the weapon of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica”