Achcauhtli (MH640v)

Achcauhtli (MH640v)

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name or birth-order label, Achcauhtli ("Older Brother" or "Person of Authority," attested here as a man's name), shows a profile view of a man's head looking toward the viewer's right. He has long hair pulled back, wrapped with perhaps a white leather thong or cloth, which is tied. The gloss actually gives Achcahuitli, which could be either an error or a the spelling of a variant.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Hair length is significant in Nahua culture. It can mark an ethnic group or an occupational group (such as priests), for example. For more information on hair length, see Justyna Olko, Insignias of Rank in the Nahua World (2014), 35. Also, see other examples of long hair, below.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

pedro achcavitli.

Gloss Normalization: 

Pedro Achcahuitli (or Achcauhtli)

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, modern state of Puebla

Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Family, Kinship, even Friendship
Gender (male)
Hair (human or animal)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
tied, bound, or bundled
Keywords: 

familia, hermanos, peinado, tzontli, atado, autoridades, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

achcauh(tli), older brother or person of authority, such as warrior leader, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/achcauhtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Hermano Mayor, o Persona de Autoridad

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 640v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=363st=image.

Image Source, Rights: 

This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).

Orthography: 
"v" for u, uh, or hu
intrusive "i"
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

cuacuilli (Mdz37r)

cuica (Mdz63r)

Mexicatl (MH595r)

Otompa (Mdz3v)

Papa (MH633r)

Quetzonpipique (MH567r)

Quetzon (MH638r)