Horacio Carochi

Horacio Carochi (1586–1666) was a Jesuit priest and grammarian who was born in Florence and died in New Spain.

Carochi had an acute understanding of the Nahuatl language and was the first grammarian to understand and propose a consistent transcription of two difficult phenomena in Nahuatl phonology, namely vowel length and the saltillo.

His Arte or grammar was seen as important soon after its publication, and as early as 1759 a version edited by Ignacio Paredes was issued.

His original Arte de la lengua Mexicana is considered by linguists today to be the finest and most useful of the extant early grammars of Nahuatl.

Of the works of Carochi, only the Arte de la lengua Mexicana has been printed; the others exist only in manuscript form.