Amiztlato (MH486r)

Amiztlato (MH486r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This is a compound Nahuatl hieroglyph for a man's personal name Amiztlato (Amiztlahto, with the glottal stop), referring to a "Leader among Hunters." The compound contains two notable elements. One is the head of a cougar (miztli) shown in profile looking to the viewer's left. The animal's coat is somewhat striped. While the cougar provide a semantic suggestion for hunting, the -miz- syllable is still a phonetic indicator. Coming out of its mouth is a spray of water (atl), providing the syllable -a- to the name, A-. The positioning of the water suggests the verb to speak, tlatoa. A leader is one who speaks, the tlatoani (or tlahtoani.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Juā amiztlato

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Juan Amiztlato (or Juan Amiztlahto)

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: miz (from miztli, cougar)

verb

Writing Features:

compound fully phonographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Cougars/Wildcats

Hunting and Fishing

Water

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Number of Parts, Other / Comment:

If the dual purpose of the water were to count as two parts, then this might be a "3."

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

upward

Reading Order, Notes:

Starting from the water the reading goes upward to the mountain lion, but then back down if we count the water as doubling as the verb tlatoa (or tlahtoa, with the glottal stop).

Keywords:

pumas, lions, animales, agua, men’s names, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Amiztlato, a leader among hunters, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/amiztlato
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
miz(tli), cougar, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/miztli
tlatoa or tlahtoa with the glottal stop, to speak, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlatoa

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Líder entre Cazadores

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 483r, World Digital Library. https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=51&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: