Otomi

See also: otomi, otomí, and Otomî

English

Alternative forms

• (plural): Otomies, Ottomies (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish otomí, from Classical Nahuatl otomih, plural of otomitl.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌoʊtəˈmiː/

Noun

Otomi (plural Otomi or Otomis)

1. A person belonging to the indigenous Otomi ethnic group of central Mexico.
   • 1578, Nicholas, Thomas, The Pleasant Historie of the Conquest of the VVeast India, London: Henry Bynneman, translation of Historia general de las Indias by Francisco López de Gómara, page 124:

     the eſpies of Tlaxcallan ſayde, that none had fought with them but certayne outlawes and knaues called Otomies, who lyued as vagaboundes without a Lorde or other ruler

   • 1625, Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes, volume 3, London: William Stansby, page 1001:

     Thoſe in New Spaine, which they call Ottomies, were of this ſort, beeing commonly poore Indians, inhabiting a rough and barren Land, and yet they are in good numbers, and liue together with ſome order, and ſuch as doe know them, find them no leſſe apt and capeable of matters of Chriſtian Religion, then others which are held to be more rich and better gouerned.

Proper noun

Otomi

2. An Oto-Manguean language and one of the indigenous languages of Mexico, spoken by around 240,000 indigenous Otomi people in the central altiplano region of Mexico.

References

• INEGI [Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografia] (2009) “Perfil sociodemográfico de la población que habla lengua indígena”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[1] (PDF), INEGI, retrieved 2009-08-17

Anagrams

• Tomio, tomoi