Editing Olmecs (section)

==Etymology==
The term Olmecs is derived from the [[Nahuatl]] {{Lang|nhe-Latn|Ōlmēcatl}} {{IPA|nah|oːlˈmeːkat͡ɬ|}} (singular) or {{Lang|nhe-Latn|Ōlmēcah}} {{IPA|nah|oːlˈmeːkaʔ|}} (plural). This word is composed of the two words ''ōlli'' {{IPA|nah|ˈoːlːi|}}, meaning "[[natural rubber]]", and ''mēcatl'' {{IPA|nah|ˈmeːkat͡ɬ|}}, meaning "people".<ref>''Olmecas'' (n.d.). Think Quest. Retrieved 20 September 2012, from [http://library.thinkquest.org/28059/olmecas.htm link] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024235315/http://library.thinkquest.org/28059/olmecas.htm|date=24 October 2012}}</ref><ref>Coe (1968) p. 42</ref> Thus literally meaning "rubber people" in [[Nahuatl]]. 

Rubber for the balls used in the ceremonial ballgame was produced by the people in the Gulf Lowlands dating back to as early as 1600&nbsp;BCE.<ref name="MIT">[http://web.mit.edu/org/m/materialculture/www/rubberprocessing.html Rubber Processing], MIT.</ref> The process involved extracting [[latex]] from a [[rubber tree]] common in the area, ''[[Castilla elastica]]'', and mixing the latex with the juice of a local vine, ''[[Ipomoea alba]].'' The [[Nahuas]] (including [[Aztec Empire|Aztec]]) called their contemporary neighbors in the Gulf Lowlands "rubber people" but this was documented some 2,000 years after the end of the ancient Olmec culture. Archaeologists in the early 20th century mistakenly applied the name "Olmec" to the rediscovered ruins and artifacts in the heartland decades before it was understood that they were not created by the same "rubber people" that were contemporary with the Aztecs. Despite the mistaken identity, the name has stuck.<ref>Diehl, p. 14.</ref>

It is not known what name the ancient Olmec used for themselves; some later Mesoamerican accounts seem to refer to the ancient Olmec as "[[Tamoanchan]]".<ref>Coe (2002) refers to an old Nahuatl poem cited by [[Miguel Leon-Portilla]], which itself refers to a land called "Tamoanchan":<blockquote>in a certain era<br />which no one can reckon<br />which no one can remember<br />[where] there was a government for a long time".</blockquote> Coe interprets Tamoanchan as a Mayan language word meaning 'Land of Rain or Mist' (p. 61).</ref> A contemporary term sometimes used for the Olmec culture is ''tenocelome'', meaning{{clarify|date=January 2024|what language?}} "mouth of the [[jaguar]]".<ref>The term "tenocelome" is used as early as 1967 by [[George Kubler]] in ''American Anthropologist'', v. 69, p. 404.</ref>