Who said she called herself "Guadalupe?"

[Miriam1947]

by Jeff Runyan | MAY 21, 2012

You might say I have a big devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. I’ve been to the Basilica in Mexico City at least a dozen times. But actually when I think of Our Lady, I don’t think of her as Our Lady of “Guadalupe.” I think of her as Our Lady of “Coatlexopeuh.” That’s right. Our Lady of Co-ahh-tla-shu-peh. After all, in 1531 when Mary appeared to Saint Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac she didn’t speak to him in Spanish. She conversed with this Aztec peasant in his native language of Nahuatl. Many paleolinguistic scholars (those who study ancient languages) are pretty certain that Mary didn’t introduce herself as “Guadalupe,” (which relates to a place in Spain) but instead, “Coatlexopeh,” the meaning of which gives this story a whole new -and exceptionally awesome- twist.

So how did we get from “Coatlexopeuh” to Guadalupe? Let’s go back a few years to 1517 when the Spaniards first arrived along the glorious coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Encountering the native Mayan peoples the conquistadors inquired of them the name of the land. As culturally sensitive as the conquistadors were, I am sure they spoke loudly and slowly to the Mayans when they asked in Spanish, “¿Cómo se llama está tierra?” (“What is this land called?”). I’m also pretty sure that they asked the question several times, each time progressively louder and slower. Anyway, as history would tell us, the Mayans, in a fit of confusion, looked at each other exhorting, “Uk Athan,” “Uk Athan,” meaning in this Mayan dialect, “What are they saying?”, “What are they saying?” The Spaniards then naturally concluded that their communicative skills had delivered and declared that this land must be called “Yucatán” (get it – Uk Athan = Yucatán?). Keep this story in the back of your mind because it relates directly to naming of Our Lady of “Guadalupe.”

Read the whole thing especially the next to the last paragraph. Truly, amazing.

focus.org/blog/posts/who-said-she-called-herself.html

I hope this is the correct forum but if not please moderators move it where it belongs.

 

[patrick457]

The sounds g and d do not exist in Nahuatl, so one issue that crops up in the traditional account of the apparitions as recorded in the Nican Mopohua is: how in the world could Juan Bernardino (Juan Diego’s elderly uncle) have said ‘Guadalupe’? The standard answer is, that ‘Guadalupe’ is really just a Spanish approximation of a Nahuatl title (Coatlaxopeuh as the article notes is a popular candidate), which is kind of funny: there is a place called Guadalupe in Extremadura, Spain, which is famous due to a statue of Our Lady venerated there since the Middle Ages. (In this case, Guadalupe = Arabic Wad’-al-luben ‘hidden river/valley’ or Arabic wadi and Latin lupus ‘wolf’).

 

[Miriam1947]

The sounds g and d do not exist in Nahuatl, so one issue that crops up in the traditional account of the apparitions as recorded in the Nican Mopohua is: how in the world could Juan Bernardino (Juan Diego’s elderly uncle) have said ‘Guadalupe’? The standard answer is, that ‘Guadalupe’ is really just a Spanish approximation of a Nahuatl title (Coatlaxopeuh as the article notes is a popular candidate), which is kind of funny: there is a place called Guadalupe in Extremadura, Spain, which is famous due to a statue of Our Lady venerated there since the Middle Ages. (In this case, Guadalupe = Arabic Wad’-al-luben ‘hidden river/valley’ or Arabic wadi and Latin lupus ‘wolf’).

This is the part of the story that really gets me:

What was the significance of this episode? Until 1531 the overwhelming majority of Aztec Indians had resisted conversion to Christianity and continued with their sacrificial practices. However, as the message of Our Lady spread, an estimated 10,000,000 indigenous people converted to the faith and human sacrifices were eradicated. So… you are waiting for it…** what does “Coatlexopeuh” mean in Nahuatl?: “I WHO CRUSH, STAMP OUT, OR DESTROY THE SERPENT.”** “I who crush, stamp out, or destroy the serpent.”

Think back to Genesis and forward to Revelation.