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Chinampa

3 stages from Nahuatl to English.

Today it means an artificial agricultural island built in shallow lake beds, developed by the Aztecs and still used in parts of Mexico

Where does the word "chinampa" come from? It comes from Nahuatl chinamitl, passing through Spanish before entering English (1840s).

1
Stage 1 of 3
chinamitl
Nahuatl · pre-1500s
"a fence of reeds or canes"
named the cane or reed fence used to build raised agricultural plots in shallow lakes
2
Stage 2 of 3
chinampa
Spanish · 1600s
"an artificial, canal-lined agricultural plot"
adopted into Mexican Spanish to describe the Aztec raised-bed farming system
3
Stage 3 of 3
chinampa
English · 1840s
"a Mesoamerican raised-field farming technique, sometimes called a 'floating garden'"
borrowed into English through historical and archaeological writing on Aztec agriculture
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