Unlike the way the other kings’ names have been treated in this book, “Otter” is not a literal translation, nor is there a satisfactory literal translation. One possible translation is “water thornness” from a- (atl, water), -huitz- (huitztli, thorn) and -yotl (-ness), but this makes no apparent sense. Another possible derivation is from the unattested verb huitzoa (to become thorny, to become like a thorn) in a similar to other such Nahuatl constructions (e.g., Andrews 1975: 241, 242, 358). This may present a more satisfactory construction, but its meaning is no more transparent. The name is usually translated as “water creature” or “water monster” (e.g., Pasztory 1983: 53; Soustells 1970: 17-18), apparently influenced by Ahuitzotl’s name glyph (see fig. 27) which shows a doglike creature with water on its back (see Nicholson and Keber 183: 120 for a discussion of the glyph). However, in his sixteenth-century natural history of Mexico, Hernández (1959, 2: 393) lists ahuitzotl as the name for an otter, an animal indigenous to the basin of Mexicon (Leopold 1972: 461-64; Memoria de las obras 1975: 1: 152-53). Thus, I have translated Ahuitzotl directly as “Otter,” which is what it signifies, rather than attempting to give its literal meaning.