Etymology
The name's use in relation to the apparition in Mexico has led to some controversy regarding its origin and meaning. The name's similarity to a variety of Nahuatl words and phrases have given rise to various hypotheses that "Guadalupe" was a corruption of these Nahuatl phrases - the idea being that the Spanish in 16th century Mexico found it difficult to pronounce Nahuatl. Such Nahuatl phrases include Coatlaxopeuh ("The one (female) that defeat the snake", interpreted as a reference to the serpent-Devil in the book of Genesis); "Tequatlanopeuh" (she whose origins were in the rocky summit"), and "Tequantlaxopeuh" ("She who banishes those who devoured us"). The first to suggest the corruption theory behind the name was Bercera Tanco, in 1675.
However, every manuscript from the first 150 years following the apparition uses the name "Guadalupe", including the original text in Nahuatl, leading scholars to conclude that time provides "no historical evidence indicating that the Virgin was called by any of the names proposed" by later scholars who suggest the name to be a corruption of Nahuatl. In fact, accounts of Spaniards' response to the story of the apparitions show that it was the native Mexicans who insisted on using the name "Guadalupe" for Mary; in fact, various Spaniards encouraged that "Guadalupe" be abandoned for a Nahuatl name, like "Tepeaquilla" or "Tepeaca".
This name has become very common, so the name Guadalupe may also refer to:
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)