Traditionally, the name Tenochtitlan was thought to come from Nahuatl tetl [ˈtetɬ] (rock) and nōchtli [ˈnoːtʃtɬi] (prickly pear) and is often thought to mean, Among the prickly pears [growing among] rocks. However, one attestation in the late 16th-century manuscript known as the Bancroft dialogues suggest the second vowel was short, so that the true etymology remains uncertain.[2]