Acolnauhacatl (MH820v)

Acolnauhacatl (MH820v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Acolnahuacatl or Acolnauhacatl is attested here as a man's name. This name starts with the root of shoulder (acolli), shown here as a right arm that is cut off at the shoulder, bent at the elbow, and has the hand raised. Below and slightly to the left of the arm is a spray of water, with three short streams and a droplet at the end of each one. Minimal lines of current and waviness in the water suggests movement. This is a phonetic indicator that the name starts with A-. Not shown visually is the part of the name that refers to 4-Reed (Nauhacatl, also spelled Nahuacatl). This part of the name derives from the religious divinatory calendar called the tonalpohualli. See below for two examples of glyphs for Nauhacatl or Nahuacatl.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Acatl is a day name, and the companion number here, if shown, is four (nahui). Parents would often name a baby based upon the date of the birth in this calendar, and the child's fate was believed to be affected by what the calendar portended.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Keywords: 

nahuacatl, nauhacatl, hombros, agua, cuatro, caña, nombres de días, nombres de hombres, nombres famosos

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Hombro-Cuatro Caña, o Hombro-4-Caña

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 820v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=715&st=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).

Historical Contextualizing Image: