huitzitzicatin

Updated: May 20, 2025

huitzitzicatin, a word not found in the dictionaries, appears to be from tzitzilca, to tremble, usually from cold, but here applied to the tremulous motion of the humming bird as it hovers over a flower. zacuan, the yellow plumage of the zacuan bird, and from similarity of color here applied to the butterfly. The zacuan is known to ornithologists as the Oriolus dominicensis.

Daniel Garrison Brinton - Ancient Nahuatl Poetry: Brinton's Library of Aboriginal American Literature Number VII.