Many historians believe that if they go to primary sources, eye witness accounts of an event, they are likely to discover historical truth. The ambiguity about her in these records says a great deal about class and gender in the s.
In the first place, historians cannot establish with any real certainty what her name might have been before she encountered the Spanish. Destined to sleep with the women given to them as presents, the Spanish insisted that they be baptized as Christians. They had Aguilar interpret a sermon which explained Christianity to them, then baptized them. La lengua , the translator, was given the Spanish name Marina. At least one linguist has determined that Malintzin was a reasonable Nahuatl pronunciation of Marina in that the Nahuatl speakers replaced the Spanish r with an l , so that Marina becomes Malina.
The Nahuatl speakers then added to that name, an ending which indicates respect: -tzin. Similarly, the Spanish had difficulty pronouncing the Nahuatl —tz , so changed it to —ch , at the same time that they dropped the silent n at the end of her name.
There is little evidence that the Spanish either knew or cared what name her parents had given her. The difficulty with her name reflects difficulty about understanding her background and status. How does one interpret this? Did he consider her to be lower class because of her social origins as an Indian slave given to him? Did he consider her to be a whore regardless of her social class? Did he believe that Indian women did not deserve to be honored with the same respect as Spanish women?
Historians can never know for sure because the records are silent. Her father died when she was young and when her mother remarried, she gave La Malinche to some Indians from Xicalango, so that there would be no disputed inheritances with her stepbrother.
