Note 48 — INTRODUCTION.

Tlatoani means, literally, "the speaker," from tlatoa, to speak, to ask, but it is translated by the Spanish lexicographers "gran señor." The chiefs were probably so called, from their right of speech in the assemblies. Benzoni gives something like this as the title of the Nicaraguan chiefs. "Chiamano li Signori Tutruane," which I suspect is a misprint for Tattruani.—Istoria del Mondo Nuovo, p. 103 (Venetia, 1565).