Ahuacatzontetl (MH875r)

Ahuacatzontetl (MH875r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Ahuacatzontetl (perhaps "Avocado Pit Head," attested here as a man's name) shows a black, tear-drop shaped, suspended avocado (ahuacatl). Below the avocado is some hair (tzontli), shaped something like a nest. The hair can serve as a phonetic indicator for head (tzon-). Finally, below the hair, is a horizontal, striped stone (tetl) with curling ends. The stone is a phonetic indicator for the pit or seed of the avocado.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Because tzontli can also refer to a head, perhaps this is a reference to a person with a head that is shaped like an avocado seed. If so, the hair and stone have a phonetic role.

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

dio avacatzōtetl

Gloss Normalization: 

Diego Ahuacatzontetl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
phonetic dimensions
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Food, Eating, Cooking
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Plants, Flora
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
Parts (of compounds or simplex + notation): 
3
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

stones, rocks, piedras, seeds, pits, nombres de hombres, hueso de avocado, aguacate, food, comida, cabezas, pelo

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

ahuaca(tl), avocado, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ahuacatl
tzon(tli), bundle of grass, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzontli-1
te(tl), stone or rock, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 875r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=822&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).

Orthography: 
"v" for u, uh, or hu
Historical Contextualizing Image: