Acol (MH623v)

Acol (MH623v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound Nahuatl hieroglyph for the personal name or ethnicity, Acol (“Shoulder,” "River Bend." or "An Acolhua," attested here as a man’s name), shows a profile view of a right arm. At the top of the arm, at the site of the shoulder (acolli) is where some water (atl) emerges. The water has a circular center with three or four short streams radiating out from the swirl. The streams here end in the usual droplets (sometimes seen as green stones), but no turbinate shells.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The water can provide a phonetic indicator for the word acolli (shoulder), or it could have a semantic role if "river bend" is meant. But the name might actually have a meaning that is nothing to do with water or river bends, such as an ethnic label.

Unlike the shoulders of the Codex Mendoza, in this glyph a bone is not protruding from the arm (at the site of the emerging water).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

matheo
acul

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Mateo Acol

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
syllable: a/atl (from atl)
syllable: col (from colli or acolli)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Gender (male)
Landscape Features
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bent
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
facing right
profile view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
left to right
Keywords: 

agua, hombros, curvas, ríos, etnicidades, Acolhuas, Acolhuaqueh, Acolhuaque

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

a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
acol(li), shoulder, bend, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/acolli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Hombro

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 623v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=328st=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: 
"th" for t, d, or gd
"u" for b or v
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Acolhuacan (MH501v)

Acolhuacapan (MH606r)

Acolhua (MH595r)

Acol (MH565v)

Acol (MH634v)

Acol (MH833v)