Ayapan (MH895r)

Ayapan (MH895r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Ayapan (perhaps “Thin Maguey Fiber Flag”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a spindle, which may be a semantic indicator for textiles, such as ayatl (a thin cloak or blanket). To the left of the spindle is an upright flag (panitl or pamitl). The flag could be a phonetic indicator for the locative suffix -pan (on or in, referring to the place where ayate cloth was made), but that is not typical for personal names. It is found more often in place names.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Ayapan was a fairly common name. Some other glyphs for this personal name appear below. It could be a place of origin. A place named Ayapan exists in the state of Tabasco, Mexico (see: Daniel Suslak, “Ayapan Echoes,” American Anthropologist, Nov. 2011), and there may well be others. If Ayapan is not literally about a cotton flag, perhaps it refers to the medicinal plant, ayapana. If so, this could be the root of the name, and the compound would be fully phonographic.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

po. ayapā

Gloss Normalization: 

Pedro Ayapan

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
phonetic possibilities
Syntax: 
line connecting elements
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Flags, banners
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
pointed (see also spiky)
vertical, upright
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
right to left
Keywords: 

telas, textiles, ayates, banderas, nombres de hombres

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

aya(tl), a thin cloak or blanket of cotton, maguey, or henequen fiber, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ayatl
pan(itl) or pam(itl), flag or banner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/panitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

posiblemente, Bandera de Ayate

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 895r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=862&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: 

Ayapan (MH569r)

Ayapan (MH530v)

Ayapan (MH535v)

Ayapan (MH745r)

Ayapan (MH679r)

Ayapan (MH871v)

Tozpanxoch (Azca16)

Chimalxoch (Azca16)