Mexican X-plainer: Chiclets & Aztecs
Among the handful of English words ultimately derived from Nahuatl is “Chiclet,” a brand of chewing gum named after the sap of the Manilkara chicle, a tropical tree native to Mesoamerica. In fact, several species of Manikara produce the substance, including the Manikara zapota, commonly known as the “sapodilla” — both adaptations of the Nahuatl name for the trees: tzapotl.
The Nahuas called the organic sap of these plants “tzictli,” meaning something like “sticky stuff” (note derivatives tzictilia, “solder” or “glue together,” and tzictiya “to get all gluey”). Tzictli was chewed as a way of keeping teeth clean and freshening breath, a custom that had been in use long before the Nahuas arrived in Mexico. In most Mayan languages, its name was a variation of cha’ — but Yukatek also has a synonym presumably borrowed from Nahuatl: sikte’.
Though its use was common among girls and unmarried young women, elders warned the latter against walking around “tzictlahtlāza” or smacking their gum. That was a habit of “in cihuah tlahuelīlōqueh in mihtoah āhuiyanimeh” — “the evil women, those called prostitutes,” reports the Florentine Codex. (That last word literally means “joyful ones,” an interesting sobriquet for sex workers.)
I can’t quite get over the grumpy attitude the Mexica had about excessive public gum chewing among the youth. It…
