Talk:Michoacán

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How do you pronounce it?

Mitch Chew A Khan

The fact that the state has experienced a recent abundance of violence related to the drug trade should be mentioned. See http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6113878 and hear a report in Real Audio from National Public Radio that aired 09/21/06 on this subject.

Contents 1 Michoacan also has a Small minority of people with mainly Spanish descent. 2 Etymology of Michoacán 3 Inaccurate statements about the P'urhépecha language 4 Major communities section

[edit] Michoacan also has a Small minority of people with mainly Spanish descent.

How would anyone know this when Mexico doesn't keep track of such details? -LoserTalent 07:11, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology of Michoacán

Sorry i cam't speak englis very well, but Michoacan isn't Nahuatl, it's Purepecha a languaje speaking in this State

It's true that P'urhépecha is spoken in Michoacan, but the name Michoacan itself comes from Nahuatl. --Ptcamn 09:40, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Hello, The Michoacán's name comes from the purépecha,Michmacuan which it means " Near The Water ", is not náhuatl, besides that them in the etymological composition not aparace the word "atl", that in náhuatl means water. I am of Michoacán because of it I affirm this

Actually they are two the versions. The word Michoacán can come from the voice náhualt "michihuacán", that wants to say, " fishermen's place ". Other authors there makes derive the same word of the voice purépecha "Michmacuán", which it means, " place near to the water ". The meaning of the word assumes to the fact of which, the first pre-Hispanic populations, were constructed around the lakes of Pátzcuaro, Zacapu, Cuitzeo and Zirahuen.

For the geographical and historical characteristics of the State I´partial to the version Purépecha, nevertheless the version Náhuatl is the ofucial

Regards from Huixquilucan Méx.

I don't know the etymology of Michoacán, but if this is Nahuatl I don't think its composition is as transparent as the statement at the beginning of the article suggests. It is true that mich- is a stem meaning 'fish'. Given people's imaginations, and the general precedence given to Nahuatl among Mexico's many indigenous languages (and there are Nahuatl speakers in the territory too), it would not be surprising that some people should try to find a Nahuatl "meaning" for the name whether or not it originally had one. But I don't think you can say, without stretching things quite a bit, that "Michoacán means fishermen's place" in Nahuatl. First of all, I don't think the word "fisherman" is to be found anywhere in the word. Secondly, the statement in the article that "hua" means 'make' in Nahuatl is pure invention. 'Make' in Nahuatl is chihua. So it would have to be (by that theory) mich-chihua-can. However, as far as I know a fisherman is not someone who "makes fish" and I don't know if there is any precedent for a fisherman being called a "fishmaker" (in Nahuatl or any other language), but on the face of it this is merely another flight of fantasy. So to sum up: 1) scientific and folk etymologies should be distinguished in an encyclopedia, and if we insist on mentioning this scientifically doubtful etymology at all, it should be labelled as a folk etymology at best; 2) unsound linguistic statements (such as saying that "hua" means "make" in Nahuatl, which it doesn't) should certainly be avoided; 3) since I am not convinced by the information given that Michoacán means anything at all in Nahuatl, that would seem to leave the door open to examine other suggestions such as the one that would derive it from Tarascan. On this last point I have nothing to say because I know no Tarascan. --A R King (talk) 07:12, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

It is not to make fish it is to own fish. The -huah and -eh suffixes in classical nahuatl denotes someone "who has x" michhuah is someone who has fish. Michhuahcān then is the "place of those who have fish" the etymology is completely transparent and documented to be a nahuatl word from the very earliest colonial period, it is even spelled phonetically in aztec pictographic manuscripts - the notion that it might have a p'urhépecha origin is unfounded. The P'urhépecha called their realm Iréchecua Tzintzuntzáni. ·Maunus· ·ƛ· 11:55, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Inaccurate statements about the P'urhépecha language

What is said in this article about P'urhépecha/Tarascan disagrees with the statements in the Wikipedia article on the P'urhépecha language, and should be corrected accordingly. According to the language article, which cites scientific sources (as opposed to this one, which cites none), P'urhépecha is either a language isolate (the majority view among specialists) or a member of the Chibchan language family (a proposal by Joseph Greenberg that enjoys little support). By either account, it is not a member of any of the recognised Mesoamerican language families. In contrast, the Michoacán article states that P'urhépecha is 1) a "hybrid language" (???), 2) a "hybrid Mesoamerican language" (???), 3) "the product of a wide-ranging process of linguistic borrowing and fusion" (???), 4) according to "some prestigious [but unnamed!] researchers... distantly related to Quecha" (???!!!), and 5) that "for this reason... the P'urhépecha may have arrived in Mexico from Peru and may be distantly related to the Incas" (?????!!!!!). This misinformation should be scrapped completely and rewritten in line with the more rigorous content of the language article. --A R King (talk) 07:34, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Major communities section

I think the section is becoming too large and I don't think it's adding anything to the article; in any case, there is the list of municipalities of Michoacán article. I think the section should be removed. --Odiseo79 (talk) 01:31, 11 February 2008 (UTC)