The X in Mexico

La Equis

"La Equis" (the X) is a  public art project located in Ciudad Juárez, México.  The gigantic, almost 200 feet tall red X is visible for miles around.  Recently, my husband Wayne and I discussed the X as we were driving on the highway that borders our home town of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez. What was the significance of the X, we wondered?  And why is the name of our southern neighbor, Mexico, spelled with an "x" in the middle that is pronounced with the sound of the Spanish  "j"?  I distinctly remembered seeing "México" spelled  as "Méjico" sometime in my studies of the Spanish language.  I decided to investigate.

"La Equis" is brimming with artistic symbolism.  It was created in 2013 by Sebastián, an artist from Chihuahua, Mexico. The sculpture commemorates the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Chamizal Treaty, hailed as a model of international cooperation when in 1963 the United States returned a portion of land to Mexico.  The ownership of the land had been under dispute because of erratic changes in the path of the Rio Grande River. 

Even more symbolism can be read into this enormous red structure.  The population of Mexico is a fusion, or cross of Spanish and indigenous roots.  The fusion of the Christian cross and an Aztec religious symbol can also be imagined.  

But how did the letter "x" end up in the name of the country?  The answer is that Benito Juárez,

Benito Juárez

the first indigenous president of Mexico, changed the spelling of his country's name in the late 1800's to more accurately depict the roots of the Mexican people. And here is where the story gets complicated linguistically.

The "x"in Old Spanish represented a sound similar to an English "sh." Later, the sound evolved into a harder sound now usually represented by the Spanish letter "j" ( somewhat similar to an English "h"). But the letter "x" has been retained in certain words, especially those of foreign or indigenous roots, such as México (Aztec), Oaxaca (Nahuatl) and Texas (Caddo).

So where have I seen "Méjico," written with the letter "j" instead of an "x"?  Probably in writings from Spain, where the Royal Academy of Language gives the "j" spelling as the first spelling. 

Public art and linguistic history have combined in "La Equis" to offer a memorable symbol of the birth of Mexico, a New World nation.