Amaxoch (MH795v)

Amaxoch (MH795v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Amaxoch ("Paper-Flower") is attested here as a woman's name. The glyph is simply a blank square. It is reminiscent of a glyph in this collection that is also just one piece of paper (amatl), though it is yellow. The flower part of this name was not added, even though there is a flower in another glyph for Amaxoch, and in yet one more, there is a flower shape made of paper. See below.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

What appear to be more prevalent in the 1540s than the 1560s are glyphs for paper (amatl) that are blank, rolled, and tied. See three examples of the rollec paper from the Codex de Mendoza folios 16 recto, 23 verso, and 24 verso. Perhaps as European influence in ways of writing increased, and Nahua tlacuilos began using sheet paper, the glyphs reflected this change. Besides the increase in attestions of glyphs of sheet paper, glyphs from the Matrícula de Huexotzinco also show the rise of bound paper books in glyphs.

The verb amaxochichihua (to make paper flowers) appears in the Florentine Codex, Book 11, folio 202, according to Wimmer (2004) in the Gran Diccionario Náhuatl, where it is related: “nicamâxochichîhua, j'en fais un lit de fleurs = I make a bed of flowers with them.” For an illustration of paper flowers that were worn during a ceremony, see the lowest image on this page of the Digital Florentine Codex. Circles of paper that were folded like flowers would also appear in a ceremonial dance (in Book 2, folio 36 recto/vuelto).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

matharenā amaxoch

Gloss Normalization: 

Magdalena Amaxoch

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: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Flowers
Gender (female)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Paper
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
rectangular
Keywords: 

nombres de mujeres, papel, amate, flores

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

ama(tl), paper, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/amatl
xoch(itl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Flor de Papel

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 795v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=665&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: 
"r" for l
"th" for t, d, or gd
intrusive overbar
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Amaxoch (MH887v)

Amaxoch (MH644r)

amatl (Mdz23r)