Chinook Jargon

Noun

pilpil

1. blood

Classical Nahuatl

Etymology

From pilli ‎(“child”) +‎ -pīl. Molina attests the plural form pīpilpipīl, from which the singular form can be deduced. Sahagún attests the singular form with the meaning (“five or six year-old child”). The plural form, as described by Carochi, is notable for its mirrored relative vowel length, resulting from the reduplication of both the stem pilli ‎(“child”) (plural pīpiltin) and the diminutive postposition -pil, which undergoes short-vowel reduplication when pluralized (-pipīl).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiɬpiːɬ/

Noun

pilpīl ‎(animate, plural pīpilpipīl)

1. diminutive of pilli; a child or youth.
   • 1571: Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, f. 82r. col. 2.

     Pipilpipil.muchachuelos.

     Pipilpipil.youngsters [boys or young men].

Synonyms

• piltōntli
• piltzintli

References

• Frances Karttunen (1992) An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl, University of Oklahoma Press, page 43
• Horacio Carochi (2001) Grammar of the Mexican Language, with an Explanation of its Adverbs (1645), translated and edited by James Lockhart, Stanford: Stanford University Press, page 43
• Alonso de Molina (2008) Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana (1571), Mexico: Editorial Porrúa, page 82