The correct reading of which should probably be—
Maria tocihuatzin, Maria toquitznitli, yhuan in Dios, yhuan in Espiritu Santo.
This Nahuatl-Spanish jargon became the lingua franca of large districts of Central America and Mexico. It was the current tongue of the half-breeds, and to this day is the patois of the muleteers who carry on the sparse commerce of the interior mountainous regions. Many of its Spanish elements are ungrammatical, and others are long since obsolete in the classical tongue. It is interlarded with words and whole phrases borrowed from the Aztec, but with such mutilations that they are scarcely, or not at all, recognizable. Words from other native languages have crept in, which adds to the difficulty of its lexicography. As for the construction, it became looser and looser, until, in some phrases, all inflectional elements disappear, and there is a naked juxtaposition of nominal and verbal roots, the relation of which must be guessed simply from their sequence.
Probably in none of the Spanish provinces has the Castilian suffered more from such admixture than in Nicaragua. The foreign words are there so numerous that the country patois becomes nearly unintelligible to one acquainted only with the Spanish of the Academy. Here is the verse of a song, for example, in that dialect, which will illustrate how far the amalgamation with the native tongues has gone. The words in italic are either Nahuatl or Mangue:—
"Casahuyano, mi amor,
Por vos esté payaneado.
No seas tilinte, mi bien."
"Se selegue, dueño amado."
"My love, between girlhood and womanhood,
My heart is breaking for you.
Do not be severe, my loved one."
"I am yet unripe, my beloved master."[24]
Another song, in which the lover expresses the strength of his devotion with more force than elegance, has the following verse:—
"O fuera yo carángano,
En tus cojines me metería
Para servirte todo el dia.
Te ama este zángano."