Editing Huītzilōpōchtli (section)

==Etymology==
There continues to be disagreement about the full significance of Huītzilōpōchtli's name.<ref>{{cite book |last=Karttunen|first=Frances|title=An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl|url=https://archive.org/details/analyticaldictio00kart|url-access=limited|year=1992|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-2421-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/analyticaldictio00kart/page/n62 91]}}</ref> Generally it is agreed that there are two elements, {{lang|nci|huītzilin}} "[[hummingbird]]" and {{lang|nci|ōpōchtli}} "left hand side." The name is often translated as "Left-Handed Hummingbird" or "Hummingbird of the South" on the basis that [[Aztec mythology|Aztec cosmology]] associated the south with the left hand side of the body.<ref>aunque el término ha sido traducido habitualmente como 'colibrí zurdo' o 'colibrí del sur', existe desacuerdo entorno al significado ya que el ''ōpōchtli'' 'parte izquierda' es el modificado y no el modificador por estar a la derecha, por lo que la traducción literal sería 'parte izquierda de colibrí', ver por ejemplo, F. Karttunen (1983), p. 91</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Huitzilopochtli|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Huitzilopochtli|website=Encyclopaedia Britannica|access-date=14 May 2018}}</ref>

However, [[Frances Karttunen]] points out that in [[Classical Nahuatl]] compounds are usually [[head final]], implying that a more accurate translation may be "the left (or south) side of the hummingbird".

The hummingbird was spiritually important in Aztec culture. [[Diego Durán]] describes what appears to be the hummingbird hibernating in a tree, somewhat like the [[common poorwill]] does. He writes, "It appears to be dead, but at the advent of spring, ... the little bird is reborn."<ref>{{cite book|author=Diego Durán|author-link=Diego Durán|year=1971 |title=Book of Gods and Rites |translator=Fernando Horcasitas and Doris Heyden |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |lccn=73-88147 |quote=For six months of the year [the huitzitzilin] is dead, and for six it is alive. And, as I have said, when it feels that winter is coming, it goes to a perennial, leafy tree and with its natural instinct seeks out a crack. It stands upon a twig next to that crack, pushes its beak into it as far as possible, and stays there for six months of the year—the entire duration of the winter—nourishing itself with the essence of the tree. It appears to be dead, but at the advent of spring, when the tree acquires new life and gives forth new leaves, the little bird, with the aid of the tree's life, is reborn. It goes from there to breed, and consequently the Indians say that it dies and is reborn.}}</ref>