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Primary sourceBook1689

Tocotin de Sor Juana en lengua mexicana

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz · 1689

A poem by Sor Juana written in Nahuatl, showing her skill in multiple languages.

Her own Nahuatl-language poem, showing her linguistic range beyond Spanish and Latin.

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Scanned page of printed Nahuatl verse in two columns, in old black-letter type, from a 17th-century book. The text is a poem in Nahuatl with stanza lines set in dense, slightly blurred print.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Tocotín en lengua mexicana, 1689.

About this source

What it is

This is a printed page of a poem, called a 'tocotín', written by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in the Nahuatl language, dated 1689. It appears as a scanned page of old black-letter printed verse set in two columns.

Why it matters

Sor Juana usually wrote in Spanish, so a poem in Nahuatl shows her engagement with Indigenous Mexican culture and language. It reflects the mixed linguistic world of colonial Mexico and the connections between Spanish-speaking convents and Indigenous communities.

Look closer

  • Why might a Spanish-speaking nun have chosen to write a poem in Nahuatl?
  • What does the layout and type of this printed page tell you about how books were made in the 17th century?
  • What might be lost or changed in meaning if this poem were only read in translation?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Juana Inés de la Cruz on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz · 1692

Title page of a 1695 printed broadside in Spanish, with an ornate border. Heading reads 'Protesta de la fe, y renovación de los votos religiosos, que hizo, y dejó escrita con su sangre la M. Juana Inés de la Cruz, Monja Profesa en S. Gerónimo de Mexico.' Below: an indulgence notice, a central 'JHS' monogram, and the imprint 'En Mexico, por Doña Maria de Benavides Viuda de Juan de Ribera. Año de 1695.'Document

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Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz · 1695

Title page of Inundación Castalida, 1689, by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Text in old Spanish typeface names her as the unique poetess, religious of San Jerónimo in Mexico City, and gives the dedication to the Condesa de Paredes, Marquesa de la Laguna, and the publisher Juan García Infanzón in Madrid.Book

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Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz · 1689

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