Axoquen (MH592r)

Axoquen (MH592r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Axoquen (“Agricultural Tool,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a frontal view of an agricultural tool (axoquen) with a nearly rectangular blade something like a modern shovel. The blade is attached to what is probably a wooden handle. The handle makes a right-angle turn below the end, and it seems to have a serpent head n profile (looking right) at the very end of the handle. The serpent's eye is open, as is its mouth.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The term axoquen also means great blue heron. So, if the reading is not intended to be the agricultural too, it may be that the person was named for the heron. In that case, this glyph could be a simplex phonogram. Alternatively, the animal head may be from a serpent (coatl), given that digging sticks came to be called coas in Mexican Spanish (but with a Taíno origin).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

juan axoque

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Axoquen

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic possibilities
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Agriculture, Gardens, Stock Raising
Animals: Birds
Animals: Reptiles
Gender (male)
Mouth/Beak Open
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Rope, cord, string
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Wood, wooden things
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
L-shapes
profile view
tied, bound, or bundled
Keywords: 

tools, herramientas, agricultura, animales, cabezas

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

axoquen, agricultural tool with an animal head, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/axoquen

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Coa con Mango Zoomorfo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Edgar Nebot García (see dictionary entry for axoquen)

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 592r, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=263&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: 
See Also: 

huictli (Mdz64r)

Tehuic (MH563r)

Tetl Ihuic (MH552r)

huictli (FCbk10f28v)