There’s A Place Called Aztalan

There’s a place, in Wisconsin (about 25 miles east of Madison on the Crawfish River), called Aztalan. It got its name from a German geographer, Baron Von Humboldt, who, because of its apparent similarity to cities of the Aztec Empire, mistakenly thought it was a northern settlement of this tribe. Aztalan contains the remains of a village with pyramid mounds similar to those of Cahokia in what is now East St. Louis. It was believed to have been settled between 1100-1300 AD, was about 21 acres in size, and was believed to have had a population of about 500. It was surrounded by a fence and sentry towers enclosing the houses, pyramids, and cornfields.

Adding to the area’s intrigue is Rock Lake, about 3 miles from Aztalan, in which up to ten pyramidal and other stone structures are said to be submerged. One of these structures, called the Limnatis Pyramid, is said to have a base width of 60 feet, a length of about 100 feet, and a height of 18 feet, built mostly of round, black stones. It is believed these structures may have been buried underwater about 3,000 years ago when a deluge flooded the area.

It's intriguing to think how much of our continent's pre-Columbian history is still buried or submerged awaiting excavation.

Language Myth #1:
Hawaiian has no word for snow

False. Hawaiian does indeed have a word for snow, and ice. The word is hau. Granted such cold weather words are never needed in most of Hawai’i, but the ancient Hawaiians were certainly aware of the white stuff on the Big Island of Hawai’i where Mauna Kea is covered with it each year. (In fact, Mauna Kea means "white mountain" and was so named by the Hawaiians for its winter coat.) When snow covers the mountain, the Hawaiians say

Ua kau ka hau
PF rest DEF snow
Snow is resting [on it]

If the Hawaiians want to specifically distinguish snow from ice, they use hau kea, white hau. To distinguish frost from snow, they can use the word hau’oki, cut snow or ice. The term poke hau (sliced hau) is used for ice cubes.

A poetic term for ice is used in some stories:

Wai pū’olo i ka lau lā’au
Water wrap in DEF leaf tree
Water wrapped in the leaves of trees

since ice was carried from Mauna Kea down to the lowlands in ancient times.

The Māori of New Zealand also have much experience with snow. Their word is huka, which is cognate with the Hawaiian hu’a (an example of the Hawaiian habit of turning Polynesian k into a glottal stop), meaning froth or foam (of a beach).

From Pila Wilson, University of Hawai'i.

Linguist vs. Polyglot

These two terms are often confused. There is technically a difference between a linguist and a polyglot, and a person can be one without the other. Let me explain. A linguist is technically someone who specializes in the science of linguistics, which, as Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines it, is "the study of human speech including the units, nature, structure, and modification of language." Many linguists are not polyglots, and many polyglots are not linguists. A linguist can be monolingual, speaking perhaps only English, but can research and analyze different languages without truly learning to speak them. A polyglot (from Greek poly, many + glotta, language) is someone who speaks several languages. I am a polyglot who also happens to be a linguist. I began learning to speak various languages as a teenager. I have only recently, however, in the last six years, become a linguist in the scientific sense of the word where I am actually documenting and analyzing the inner workings of languages and the similarities and differences between them.