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Guatemala, [a] officially the Republic of Guatemala, [b] is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically bordered to the south by the Pacific Ocean and to the northeast by the Gulf of Honduras.
The history of Guatemala traces back to the Maya civilization (2600 BC – 1697 AD), with the country's modern history beginning with the Spanish conquest of Guatemala in 1524. By 1000 AD, most of the major Classic-era (250–900 AD) Maya cities in the Petén Basin , located in the northern lowlands, had been abandoned.
Guatemala: Guatemala City: The origin of the name "Guatemala" is the =Nahuatl word Quauhtemallan meaning "forested land". This was the name that the Nahuatl-speaking Mexican allies of the Spanish conquistadors used for Iximche, the Kaqchikel Maya capital that the Spanish adopted as their colonial city. [33]
[citation needed] There is a significant amount of confusion as to the correct terminology to use—Maya or Mayan—and the meaning of these words with reference to contemporary or pre-Columbian peoples, to Maya peoples in different parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and to languages or peoples.
English has also absorbed words of Nahuatl origin, including avocado, chayote, chili, chipotle, chocolate, atlatl, coyote, peyote, axolotl and tomato. These words have since been adopted into dozens of languages around the world. [15] [16] The names of several countries, Mexico, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, derive from Nahuatl. [17] [18] [19]
The meaning and origin of name of Latvian people is unclear, however the root lat-/let- is associated with several Baltic hydronyms and might share common origin with the Liet-part of neighbouring Lithuania (Lietuva, see below) and name of Latgalians – one of the Baltic tribes that are considered ancestors of modern Latvian people.
The exact origin of the term pupusa is unknown. The Dictionary of Americanisms [], published by the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, states that pupusa derives from the Nawat word puxahua meaning "fluffy" or "fluffy thing". [5]
Mayan languages are spoken by at least six million Maya people, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. In 1996, Guatemala formally recognized 21 Mayan languages by name, [1] [notes 2] and Mexico recognizes eight within its territory. The Mayan language family is one of the best-documented and most studied in the ...