Almoyahuacapan (MH602v)
This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the place name Almoyahuacapan (“Where the Water is Disturbed”) shows a swirl of water with five short streams spinning off of it. The black lines of current stress the motion of the water. The droplets (or jade beads) at the tips of the streams and the turbinate shells are emblematic of water streams. The turbinate shells add further to the emphasis on swirling and movement. The gloss provides the place name and adds, "first calpolli."
Stephanie Wood
The use of the term calpolli (neighborhood, temple district, big house, migrant group, etc.) is worth watching. Many place names in the manuscript are glossed "barrio" (the Spanish approximate equivalent). The potential significance of the swirling water is brought home by the name glyph for Tetzauh (omen), which seems to suggest that whirlpools (and perhaps whirlwinds, and the like) create a vortex that connects life on earth with a spiritual realm.
Stephanie Wood
almoyauacapā
yc cēcalpoli
Almoyahuacapan, ic cen calpolli
Stephanie Wood
1560
Stephanie Wood
water, agua, swirling, remolinos, caracolillos, círculos, cuentas
moyahua, to disturb clear water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/moyahua
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
al, see: atl, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/al
calpol(li), neighborhood, migrant group, temple district, big house, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/calpolli
Lugar Donde el Agua Está Turbada
Stephanie Wood
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 602v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=286&st=image.
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).