Nahuatl

Nahuatl, with the stress on the first syllable, was the language of the great empire of the Aztecs. At one time spoken over all of present-day Mexico, it is still the most important Indian language in the country. Its 1½ million speakers live mainly in the states of Puebla, Veracruz, Hidalgo, and Guerrero, to the north, east, and south of Mexico City. Nahuatl belongs to the Uto-Aztecan family, which also includes a number of languages of the western United States. English words of Nahuatl origin include tomato, chocolate, avocado, coyote, and ocelot.

At the time of the Spanish conquest Aztec writing was entirely pictographic. The Spanish introduced the Roman script and soon recorded a large body of Aztec prose and poetry. The full text of the prayer to Tlaloc, the god of rain, runs about 200 lines.