Atl (MH640r)

Atl (MH640r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Atl ("Water," attested here as a man's name) shows swirling stream of water. Black lines running through the stream seem to suggest current or flow. Five droplets (small circles) splash off the main line of current.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Water is a day sign in the 260-day religious divinatory calendar called the tonalpohualli. A child born on the day of water might be given the name Atl. Usually, a companion number (from 1 to 13) would accompany this day sign, but here we see no number. By 1560, the companion numbers to calendrical names were either dropping away as naming patterns evolved, or perhaps they were suppressed out of concern for the colonial clergy's dislike of the continued use of a pre-contact divination practice.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

ātl

Gloss Normalization: 

Atl

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: 
calendrics
day name
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
curving, curvy, curved
bird's eye view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Keywords: 

water, agua, días, fechas, dates, calendars, calendarios, nombres de días festivos, nombres de hombres

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

a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Agua

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 640r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=362st=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: 

atl (MH486r)

atl (Mdz21v)

atl (Mdz27r)