Tonalli
/toˈnaʎi/noun
In Nahuatl, a person's day-sign, vital heat, or animating force.
Did you know?In Nahua thought, tonalli was tied to the sun, the calendar, and a person's destiny, so losing it meant losing vitality and spiritual balance.
Etymological Timeline
Classical Nahuatl
Nah
tonalli
“vital heat, day-sign, animating force”
16th Century
Nah
tonalli
“Recorded by early colonial Nahuatl sources as a person's vital force and calendrical day-energy”
Colonial Spanish
Spa
tonalli
“Borrowed into descriptions of Indigenous Mesoamerican belief and ritual life”
Modern English
Eng
tonalli
“A Nahuatl term used in scholarship for the vital force or day-soul in Aztec thought”