An Animating Principle in Confrontation With Christianity? De(re)constructing the Nahua “Soul

Bibliographic Data

ID6033537
AuthorsJustyna Olko (0000-0002-3726-3184, University of Warsaw, corresponding author), Julia Madajczak (0000-0002-6309-2243, University of Warsaw)
Year2019
Volume30
Issue1
Pages75-88
Publication date2019-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAncient Mesoamerica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0956-5361 • E-ISSN: 1469-1787
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0956536118000329
OpenAlexW2906144722
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited35

Yoliais one of the principal indigenous terms present in Christian Nahua terminology in the first decades of European contact. It is employed for “soul” or “spirit” and often forms a doublet withánimain Nahuatl texts of an ecclesiastical, devotional, or secular nature. The term-yolia/teyoliahas also lived a rich and fascinating life in scholarly literature. Its etymology (“the means for one's living”) is strikingly similar to that of the Spanish wordánima, or “soul.” Taking into account the possibility that attestations of the seemingly pre-Hispanic-yoliacan be identified in some of the written sources, we have reviewed historical, linguistic, and anthropological evidence concerning this term in order to revisit the Nahua concept of the “soul.” We also scrutinize the very origin of-yoliain academic discourse. This analysis, based on broader historical and linguistic evidence referring to both pre-Conquest beliefs and Christianization in sixteenth-century central Mexico, is the point of departure for proposing and substantiating an alternative hypothesis about the origin of-yolia. Our precise focus has been to trace and pinpoint a pervasive Christian influence, manifest both in indigenous Colonial texts and conceptual frameworks of modern scholars interpreting them. We conclude that -yoliais a neologism created in the early Colonial period

Archaeology · Art · Christianity · Christianization · Colonialism · Episteme · Epistemology · Etymology · Indigenous · Linguistics · Literature · Nahuatl · Neologism · Soul · Terminology · Early Modern Spanish Literature · History · Latin American history and culture · Philosophy · Psychedelics and Drug Studies

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