zapotechttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zapotec_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_useZapotec, n. & adj.
First published 1986; not fully revised

Zapotecnoun & adjective

  1. noun
      1. a.
        1797–
        A member of an Indigenous people living in and around Oaxaca in southern Mexico.
        1. 1797
          To the south-east..were the great provinces of the Mixtecas, the Zapotecas, and the Chiapanecas.
          Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XI. 668/1
        2. 1875
          In Chiapa were the Zapotecs, in Yucatan the Mayas.
          Encyclopædia Britannica vol. I. 694/2
        3. 1877
          The confederacy was confronted by hostile..tribes..: the tribes of Chiapas, and the Zapotecs.
          L. H. Morgan, Ancient Society ii. vii. 195
        4. 1953
          The ancient Zapotecs..who may have come from Asia across the Behring Straits, and who are believed to have built..these temples at Mitla and Monte Albàn.
          S. Bedford, Sudden View iii. v. 231
        5. 1979
          These Indians—the Zapotecs—were a matrilineal people.
          P. Theroux, Old Patagonian Express v. 75
      2. b.
        1881–
        Any of several dialects or languages of the Zapotecs.
        1. 1881
          The other chief stock or at least not yet classified Mexican tongues are the Miztec and Zapotec of Oajaca, [etc.].
          Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XII. 828/1
        2. 1936
          These ladies understand Zapoteco..but they do not speak it.
          E. C. Parsons, Mitla i. 16
        3. 1965
          In Trique, Isthmus Zapotec, and certain other languages of Mexico, certain clause types have the preferred ordering predicate, subject, object.
          Language vol. 41 73
        4. 1973
          The student of architecture we met in the square of Oaxaca was talking Zapotec to his girl-friend.
          Times 24 March 11/8
  2. adjective
    1. 1861–
      Of or pertaining to the Zapotecs.
      1. 1861
        Whenever a Zapoteque woman is about to add one to the number of their community, the expectant father of the child assembles all his relations in his cabin.
        M. Reid, Hero in spite of Himself vol. I. 12
      2. 1927
        Four words in the idioma, the Zapotec language..‘You understand them?’
        D. H. Lawrence, Mornings in Mexico 45
      3. 1934
        A bas-relief of an ithyphallic man—the work..of the pre-Zapotec occupants of the site.
        A. Huxley, Beyond Mexique Bay 46
      4. 1972
        The Zapoteco language is spoken in a number of regional dialects.
        Book Thousand Tongues (revised edition) 464/2
      5. 1980
        Its hieroglyphs, mostly carved from 500 B.C. to A.D. 700, record the rise and decline of the Zapotec state.
        Scientific American February 46/3

Zapotec, n. & adj. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

Zapotec, n. & adj. was last modified in July 2023.