Apanecatl (MH486v)

Apanecatl (MH486v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This is a black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Apanecatl, which was short for Atempanecatl or Atecpanecatl, according to Susan Gillespie, The Aztec Kings, 1989, 258. According to the Crónica Mexicayotl, Apanecatl was a legendary teomama (deity bearer) in the migration that eventually reached and founded Mexico City. The name includes "Apan" (from apantli, canal or waterway), suggesting a reading of "Canal Person." The glyph shows a three-part stream of water falling downward. Thick black lines suggest currents. The tips of the streams have droplets or beads. The water swirls slightly at the top.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The name Apanecatl is still very much in use today in Mexico in the Sierra de Zongolica, Estado de Veracruz. See: Ezequiel Jiménez Romero, Santos Carvajal García, Ramon Tepole González, and Jorge Luis Hernández, "Apellidos Nahuas Vigentes," published to Facebook by Ernestina Lara Cuevas, 30 May 2020. A Google search brings up many examples.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

andres apanecatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Andrés Apanecatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Movement
Religion (Indigenous)
Water
Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
tripartite
Keywords: 

nombres de hombres

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

Apanecatl, a name of an important historical figure, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/apanecatl
apantli, waterway, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/apantli
-e, possessive suffix, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/a
-catl, a suffix that indicates affiliation or ethnicity, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/catl

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 486v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=52&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: