Nahuatl Note: “Tlahtoani” vs. “king”

When writing about or discussing Nahua society before the Spanish invasion, one invariably is faced with the question of how to deal with the word tlahtoani, the title by which the rulers of altepetl (Nahua city-states) were usually called.

Though the most common strategy is to translate this title as “king,” some folks have objected to that translation as imposing Western ideas of rulership on Indigenous nations, etc. A few simply leave the word in Nahuatl or translate it as “speaker,” citing etymology as justification.

Despite these objections, I’d argue there’s no good reason not to translate the Nahuatl title “tlahtoani” as “king,” and rendering the word “speaker” shows a lack of understanding of the language and pre-Spanish Invasion Nahua governance.

Let’s break the word down. “Tlahto-” is the root, from the verb “tlahtoa.” And “-ani” is a “doer” suffix. So “someone who does” the action “tlahtoa.”

What does that verb mean? Its principal definition is “talk” or “speak” (intransitive, i.e. without a direct object).

But that’s not all.

Tlahtoa also means “sing” when the subject is a bird. For example, “inic tlahtoa in chiquimolin, cencah tzahtzi” … “when the ladder-backed woodpecker sings, it cries out loudly.”

But with a locative or place name, tlahtoa means “to govern, to supervise, to be in command.” For example, “nican nitlahtoa” — “I’m in charge here.” Or “in ipan tlahtoayah in…