Nencihuatl (MH633r)

Nencihuatl is found in the dictionary, but necihuatl is not. A dropping of the letter "n" is not at all unusual; so perhaps it should be there, even though it does not appear in the gloss.

The five extra days in the calendar of 360 days (xiuhpohualli) were called nemontemi (useless days). It was unlucky to be born on these days. A man who was born in this period was called nenoquich and a woman was called nencihuatl. This is explained in the Florentine Codex in Book 2, folio 12 recto (see: https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/book/2/folio/12r). These individuals were considered unlucky, ill-fated, and even useless. A great many individuals in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco have names beginning with the negative syllable Nen-. Perhaps they were born in that ill-fated period, or perhaps the negative syllable came to be even more liberally applied. With men, for instance, Nentequitl (perhaps a lazy worker) was much more common than Nenoquich. When presented visually, the nen- syllable could derive from nenetl (a figure or sculpture of a deity or a doll). Nenetl also had an association with women’s genitals, which has caused much speculation about a negativity associated with women and their sex, but that might have come from European religious influence. In the colonial context, such concepts and perceptions could become muddied.