Aocnel (MH623r)

Aocnel (MH623r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Aocnel (perhaps "Good for Nothing," attested here as a man's name) appears to feature a mortar and pestle for pulverizing or mixing a concoction. The meaning of the visual has yet to be deciphered. Might this be some kind of container for creating a medicinal?

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Aoc (an adverb) means no longer. Nel was originally short for nelli (an adjective), true, but James Lockhart explains that it became ubiquitous in particle combinations, losing the meaning of "true." See Lockhart's explanation in our Online Nahuatl Dictionary entry for canel.

Another Aocnel personal name glyph in this collection (see below) has a completely different motif (a plant). Perhaps it is a medicinal plant.

Orozco y Berra suggests a translation of "bueno para nada," good for nothing. See our Dictionary entry.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

andres
aocnel

Gloss Normalization: 

Andrés Aocnel

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: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Gender (male)
Health, Medicine
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Personality, Behavior
Plants, Flora
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

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

medicinas, plantas medicinales

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

aoc, no longer, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/aoc
nel(li), true, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nelli
aocnel, null, good for nothing, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/aocnel

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Bueno Para Nada

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 623r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=328st=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: 
See Also: 

Aocnel (MH489r)

Aocnel (MH506v)

Aocnel (MH627v)