Students of etymology – the study of historical change as applied to individual words – are frequently enchanted by the wealth of indigenous Mexican words that have infiltrated the Castilian tongue.
Words such as chocolate and guacamole have been adopted not only into Spanish but also into English. Less well-known ones such as elote (sweetcorn) or guaraches (sandals) have also successfully crossed cultural time barriers. One word which is guaranteed to set local regional pride ablaze has aroused the curiosity of linguists for centuries. Is there anybody in the Republic who doesn’t refer to someone born in Guadalajara as a “Tapatio?” Ask any young native of this city about his origins and he will proudly reply, “Soy Tapatio” (I’m a Tapatio). In Guadalajara and Jalisco couples dance the “Jarabe Tapatio,” lovers stroll in the Plaza Tapatia, mariachis strum “Sones Tapatios.” The word is synonymous with Guadalajara. But few can claim to understand fully the origin of the word.
As with most things linguistic, no two scholars seem to be able to agree on the origin of this particular word. Most linguists, however, concur that the word tapatio is a derivation of the Nahuatl (ancient Mexican language) word tlapatiotl.
In an extensive work titled “A Vocabulary of the Mexican and Castilian Language” written in 1571 by Fray Antonio de Molina, the word tlapatiotl is defined as “el precio de lo que se compra, lo que se da por lo que se compra” (the price of one’s purchase, what is given for what one has bought). This rather ambiguous definition alludes to either a currency or barter unit. Ancient Mexican historical evidence has shown that nearly all transactions in pre-Columbian society were conducted entirely by barter.
It is widely believed that cocoa beans formed everyday small change. Historians have noted that in Nueva Galicia (an area which included Jalisco) and Guadalajara, the native population used balls of fibers as currency, each one being worth ten cocoa beans and known by the name tapatios.
Another variation on this theme was offered by Fray Francisco Jimenez in a short volume “The Beauty and Virtues of the Plants of New Spain,” published in 1615. In it he remarks that the indigenous population of the kingdom of Tonala used small bags as currency, three of which constituted a “hapatiotl.” This version is supported by Cecilio Robelo in his authoritative “Dictionary of Aztecisms.” Here tapatio (tlapatiotl) is defined as a “currency comprising of three units used in Jalisco before the conquest.”Robelo is not content with just a single definition. He offers us another, lesser-acclaimed possibility. Tapatio, he says, is also the name given in Guadalajara to groupings of three corn tortillas. Records show that vendors in the pre-Hispanic markets of Guadalajara used to sell corn tortillas in lots of three. In the capital of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), tortillas were sold by the dozen. So, in ancient Guadalajara homes, one can envisage the dutiful daughter being sent, not to buy a dozen tortillas, but four tapatios.
Where linguists have most difficulty is in pinpointing exactly how the original native words changed form and took on Spanish guises. But it doesn’t take an expert to see that by removing the letters troublesome to a Spanish tongue from tlapatiotl one is left with the word tapatio. The Spanish were nothing if not direct in matters of language transference.
Markets formed the centers of all town and cities, both before and after the Spanish conquest. One may suppose that traders arriving from outside Guadalajara first used the term tapatios to refer to their neighbors who bought and sold tortillas in packs of three. As the nickname stuck to people, the original uses of the word faded into obscurity.
Today, investigators searching in the Spanish Dictionary of the Royal Academy will find just one definition. Tapatio: A name given to the inhabitants of the Western Mexican city of Guadalajara.