quiyahuitl.

Headword: 
quiyahuitl.
Principal English Translation: 

the rain, a rainstorm; also, a person's name (attested male) Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 156.

Orthographic Variants: 
quijiaujtl, quiyauitl, quiyavitl
IPAspelling: 
kiyɑwitɬ
Frances Karttunen: 

QUIYAHU(I)-TL rainstorm / lluvia o aguacero (M) Because the sequence is stem-internal and invariant, there is no evidence to decide between QUIAHU(I)-TL and QUIYAHU(I)-TL. Z has O for A. X has the variant QUIYAUH-TLI. Although this does not appear to be a compound word, there are the related forms such as ĀYAHU(I)-TL 'cloud, fog,’ and CEPAYAHU(I)-TL 'snow.' See QUIYAHU(I). Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 213.

Attestations from sources in English: 

yn imixaio qujnezcaiotiaya, in quijiaujtl = their tears signified rain; njman ie ic tlatoa in cujtlacochi, ynezca, ynic ujtz, inic moquetzaz tlapaquijiaujtl njman oalhuj = then the cuitlacochin bird cried -- a forecast that continual, soft rain was about to set in (central Mexico, sixteenth century) Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2 -- The Ceremonies, no. 14, Part III, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 44. cenca chicahuac yn manca quiyahuitl = there were very strong rains (early seventeenth century, central New Spain) Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 96–97. ypan nahui ora peuhqui quiyahuitli Lones cemilhuitli cepayauh = at 4 o’clock it began to rain. On Monday it snowed all day Here in This Year: Seventeenth-Century Nahuatl Annals of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley, ed. and transl. Camilla Townsend, with an essay by James Lockhart (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), 178–179. mjn. quiauh (Tepetlaoztoc, sixteenth century) Barbara J. Williams and H. R. Harvey, The Códice de Santa María Asunción: Facsimile and Commentary: Households and Lands in Sixteenth-Century Tepetlaoztoc (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1997), 79. Tlaloc, tlamacazquj: ynjn ipan machoia, in qujiaujtl: ca iehoatl quiiocoaia, qujtemoujaia, qujpixoaia, in quijaujtl, yoan in teciujtl: quixotlaltiaja, qujtzmolinaltiaja, qujxoxuvialtiaja, quicueponaltiaja, quizcaltiaia in quaujtl, in çacatl, in tonacaiotl. Yoan no itech tlamjloia, in teilaqujliztli, in tlaujtequjliztli. Auh ynjc michichioaia, tlaixtlilpopotzalli, tlaixolhujllli, motliloçac, ixmjchioave, ixmichioauhio, auachxicole, aiauhxicole, aztatzone, chalchiuhcozque, poçulcaque, no tzitzile, aztapilpane. = Tlaloc the priest. To him was attributed the rain; for he made it, he caused it to come down, he scattered the rain like seed, and also the hail. He cause to sprout, to blossom, to leaf out, to bloom, to ripen, the trees, the plants, our food. And also by him were made floods of water and thunder-bolts. And he was thus decorated: his face was thickly painted black, his face was painted with liquid rubber; it was anointed with black; his face was {spotted} with {a paste of} amaranth seeds. He had a sleeveless cloud-jacket of netted fabric; he had a crown of heron feathers; he had a necklace of green stone jewels. He had foam sandals, and also rattles. He had a plaited-reed banner. (central Mexico, sixteenth century) Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 1 -- The Gods; No. 14, Part 2, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1950), 2.auh in pipilzitzinti, intla chocatiuj, intla imixaio totocatiuh, intla imixaio pipilcatiuh, mitoaia, moteneoaia, ca quijiauiz: yn imixaio qujnezçaiotiaia, in qujiaujtl = And if the children went crying, their tears coursing down and bathing their faces, it was said and understood that indeed it would rain. [For] their tears signified rain. (16th century, Mexico City)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2—The Ceremonies, No. 14, Part III, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 43-44.auh yn ie qujçaz qujiaujtl, yn ie tlamiz yn ie itzonco: njman ie ic tlatoa in cujtlacochi, ynezca, ynic ujtz, inic moquetzaz tlapaqujiaujtl: njman oalhuj, pipixcãme: no yoã oalhuj necujlicti, tletlecton, tzatzitinemj, ynezça ie uitz in cetl, ie ceuetziz = And when the rains were about to end, when they were soon to finish, to close, then the cuitlacochin bird cried—a forecast that continual, soft rain was about to set in. Then came the gulls. And also came the falcons, flying with much clamor. And they forecast when would come the ice, and that it would freeze. (16th century, Mexico City)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2—The Ceremonies, No. 14, Part III, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 44.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

mundo ycpac quitlalique yhuan q'[ui]uhtin = le pusieron encima un munco y las lluvias [i.e. los cuatro vientos]