I bring you a list of riddles in Nahuatl, an indigenous language with thousands of years that is still spoken and studied in schools in Latin America. Currently more than a million and a half people speak it in Mexico.
Nahuatl is the native language that existed in America before the colonization of the Spanish. As colonization spread, this language was lost and was replaced by Castilian.
Even so, it is one of the most widely spoken native languages in Mexico with more than one and a half million speakers. It is believed that in the world, about 7 million people speak this pre-Columbian language.
Riddles in the Nahuatl indigenous language
Mo apachtsontsajka mitskixtiliya uan axke tikita?
Translation: what is it, what is it? He takes your hat off and you don't see it.
Answer: air.
Tlake, tlake, tsikuini uan tsikuini I still love tikajasi
Translation: what is it, what is it, it jumps and you don't reach it?
Answer: the rabbit.
Nochita kwak kiawi Notlakeenpatla
Translation: An old man very alive, every time it rains, he changes his dress.
Answer: the hill.
Maaske mas titlaakatl yes but mitschooktis
Translation: no matter how manly you are, it's going to make you cry.
Answer: onion.
Wi'ij tu jalk'esa'al, na'aj tu jáala'al
Translation: hungry they are taking her. Full they bring it loading.
Translation: what is it that goes through a valley, and has its guts dragging?
Answer: the needle sewing.
See tosaasanil, see tosaasaanil See ichpokatsin iitlakeen melaak pistik tomatl
Translation: you haven't guessed who is the girl, with the huipil so tight?
Answer: tomato.
Uñijximeajts ajtsaj ximbas salñuwindxey makiejp op saltsankan makiejp ñity.
Translation: leaf wrapped and tied with palm is my disguise. In my body of mass my heart of flesh you will find.
Answer: the tamale.
Zazan tleino, cuatzocoltzin mictlan ommati. Aca quittaz tozazaniltzin, tla ca nenca apilolli, ic atlacuihua
Translation: cantarillo de palo that knows the region of the dead.
Answer: the pitcher of water.
Neither cayúnini ma'cutiip i nor cazi'ni ma 'cayuuna' nor guiqu iiñenila ma'qué zuuyani
Translation: guess, guessing. Whoever makes it does it by singing. Whoever buys it, buys it crying. The one who uses it, is no longer seeing it.
Answer: the coffin.
Zan zan tleine cimalli itic tentica
Translation: small but beaked, full of shields.
Answer: chili.
Za zan tleino Iztactetzintli quetzalli conmantica
Translation: Guess, guess what is like a white stone, that quetzal feathers sprout from it?
Answer: onion
Amalüw xik munxuey xik samal küty akiejp as najchow ximbas wüx satüng amb xa onds
Translation: guess what! My body is made of reed and on my belly I wear a mecapal. With tamemes I come and go from the sea. Loaded with fish and corn for breakfast, lunch and even dinner.
Translation: so that people can give their food. In a little boy I have to dance, after throwing myself and diving into the sea.
Answer: the cast net.
Tu laabe, tulaabe, rayan nibe nápabe dxitá xquibe
Translation: Who is and who is who on his neck carries his eggs backwards and forwards?
Answer: the palm tree.
Zazan tleino aco cuitlaiaoalli mouiuixoa.
Translation: round at the top and paunchy besides, I shake myself and go screaming so you can dance.
Answer: the maraca.
Natyek umbas ñikands umeajts nanbyur ulük nangan mi kej.
Translation: a feast you will give yourself… Green on the outside you will see me and black teeth on the inside you will find. From my red heart sweet blood you will eat, will you guess?
Answer: watermelon.
Xilaani, biétini lu dani, nápani chonna ne ti xiiñini
Translation: how do you see it? Down the hill. And I have three feet. And a son who grinds, how can you not see!
Answer: the mortar.
Wa na'atun na'ateche 'na'at le ba'ala': Jump'éel ts'ool wukp'éel u jool
Translation. guess, riddle: seven holes, a single pumpkin.
Answer: the head.
Na'at le baola paalen: Ken xi iken si yaan jun tul joy kep K'eenken tu beelili
Translation: don't you guess kid: If you are going to cut firewood, a very lazy pig will look for you on the road.
Answer: the honeycomb.
Lo: mah we: yak, ika ontlami ompakah or: me yeyekako: ntli
Translation: On a long hill there, where it ends there are two caves from which air comes out.
Answer: the nose.
Se: tosa: sa: ne: l, se: tosa: sa: ne: l ma: s san ka: non niwa: le: wa, wan xpapalo tli: n níkpia
Translation: come where I come from, take off my pants and lick what I have.
Answer: the handle.
Mimixtlamotsi, mimixtlamotsi, itik se tekorral nitotitok se kichkonetl
Translation: behind a stone fence there is a boy dancing.
FARFÁN, José Antonio Flores.Nahua riddles of today and forever: see tosaasaanil, see tosaasaanil. Ciesas, 1995.
FARFÁN, José Antonio Flores.Tsintsiinkiriantsintsoonkwaakwa, Nahuas Tongue Twisters / Tsintsiinkiriantsintsoonkwaakwa, Nahuas Tongue Twisters. Editions Era, 2007.
DE LA PEÑA, María Teresa Miaja. From "divinare" to "mirabillia": the riddle in the Mexican folk tradition. OnProceedings of the XIV Congress of the International Association of Hispanists: New York, July 16-21, 2001. Juan de la Cuesta, 2004. p. 381-388.
FARFÁN, José Antonio Flores. EFFECTS OF THE NÁHUATL-SPANISH CONTACT IN THE REGION OF BALSAS, GUERRERO. MOVEMENT, MAINTENANCE AND LANGUAGE RESISTANCE.Nahuatl culture studies, 2003, p. 331.
DAKIN, Karen. Studies on Nahuatl.Advances and Balances of Yutoaztecas Languages, INAH, México, DF, 2001.
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