The word Puebla means town or towns and its origin comes from the old Castilian. This word was used to name the city today known as Puebla de Zaragoza around 1531.
The origin of this word has always been controversial because although it is attributed to the word town in Latin, it does not coincide. Many have also tried to assign it to Nahuatl but there does not seem to be a correspondence either.
Puebla, Mexico
The first record of the Puebla de Ángeles denomination for the ancient pre-Hispanic city called Cuetlaxcoapan, came from the essay written by Fray Toribio de Benavete.
You may also be interested in the traditions and customs of Puebla.
History and controversy
The essay written by Fray Toribibio de Benavete, told the story of a new conquest for Spain with the founding of the city of Puebla de Ángeles or Angelópolis.
This reference to angels comes from the legend that the city's checkerboard was drawn by angelic beings, although in reality it was drawn by Benavete himself starting from a New-Hispanic utopia that sought to recreate an ideal Jerusalem.
For 330 years the current Puebla de Zaragoza was called the City of Angels. It was Benito Juárez who in 1862 decided to change the name of the city to Puebla, in reference to its first denomination for Fray Benavete, and to Zaragoza, in tribute to General Ignacio Zaragoza, who fought against the French invasion in 1862.
The new use of the word Puebla to name said state by Benito Juárez responded to an act of retaliation against the followers of Emperor Maximilian, but in no way did it stem from the study of the etymology of the word puebla.
Spreading the word
Most likely, the spread of the word Puebla was due to education and evangelization by the Franciscan order, since Isabel of Portugal herself named this new settlement as City of Angels, leaving out the word Puebla.
It is known that this order together with the Dominicans was in charge of teaching Spanish and they also had to learn Nahuatl to be able to communicate with these new communities.
The intention to be understood and integrated was such a high priority for these orders that many friars, such as the renowned Benavete, called himself Motolinía, a compound word that in Nahuatl meant "poor man who grieves."
This is not the only case where the Nahuatl language was used to name people or things, since it was imperative to maintain peace between these large populations and the new conquerors.
This went directly to finding meeting points for understanding the language.
It is evident that a large part of the place names throughout the Mexican region are based on the language of the indigenous peoples. This makes sense because many of these cities were decades or centuries old.
It is contradictory that if Benavete himself changed his name to adapt it to the Nahuatl language, he would have referred to Cuetlaxcoapan as Puebla de los Ángeles or Angelópolis, hence the wrong information that the word Puebla could come from Nahuatl also started.
Starting from all the previous considerations, it has finally been determined that Puebla did not come from Latin and neither from Nahuatl.
It is a word that belonged to the old Castilian and was used by the Franciscan order.
References
- Hirschbetg, J. (1978). Puebla de los Ángeles Foundation: myth and reality. Mexico: El Colegio de México: Retrieved on November 10, 2017 from: jstor.org
- Díaz, M. (2015). The education of Natives, Creole, Clerics and the Mexican Enlightenment. Retrieved on November 10, 2017 from: tandfonline.com
- Chamomile, L. (2001). Ancient history of Mexico. Mexico: UNAM. Retrieved on November 10, 2017 from: books.google.es
- Toponymy of Mexico. Retrieved on November 10, 2017 from: es.wikipedia.org
- Puebla of Zaragoza. Retrieved on November 10, 2017 from: es.wikipedia.org