Atamal (MH769v)

Atamal (MH769v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black, white, and blue drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Atamal is attested here as a man's name. One element is a ball shape with wrappings around it, suggestive of a tamalli. Going downward from the ball is a short, simple stream of water painted turquoise blue. At the end of this short stream, which has a black line down the middle seemingly to suggest current/movement, is a white droplet. Unlike some, this droplet does not have a dot in the middle to suggest a bead.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Atamal was also the name of a valiant macehualli warrior who was rewarded by the ruler Itzcoatl--at the request of Tlacaelel--with a plug to wear below the bottom lip (tentetl or tezacatl in Nahuatl and besolera in Spanish), plus a green stone and an ear ornament (orejera in Spanish). This is reported in Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc's Crónica Mexicana, ch. 17.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

dio anthāmal

Gloss Normalization: 

Diego Atamal

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: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Food, Eating, Cooking
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
blue (turquoise)
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle, circular or rounded
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
diagonal or angled
tied, bound, or bundled
Parts (of compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
right to left
Keywords: 

agua, tamales, manjares, comida, nombres de hombres

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

atamal(li), water-based tamale, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atamalli
a(tl), water https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
tamal(li), tamale, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tamalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Tamal de Agua

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 769v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=613&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: 
"th" for t, d, or gd
intrusive "n"
intrusive overbar
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Tamalhuilan (MH551v)

Tamalpin (MH510r)

tamalli (Mdz68r)

Cuauhtamaltitlan (RGTyM)