Ayaquica (MH664v)

Ayaquica (MH664v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Ayaquica (or Ayac Ica, “With No One” or “He is Alone”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a man's head in profile, facing toward the viewer's right and facing downward. Tears stream down his cheeks, which supports a reading of his being emotional, whether he is sad because he is alone or because someone is departed (yaqui).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This name--if deciphered correctly--is a complete sentence whereby the verb (to be) is implied, something very common in Nahuatl alphabetic and hieroglyphic writing. This sentence also includes a preposition (with, ica) and an indefinite pronoun (no one, ayac). Perhaps it is another way of referring to an orphan, a widow, or a widower.

A Google search of Ayaquica will bring up many names of people of Mexican heritage alive today. Some have suspected that this is a Quechua name from South America, and if it proves to be true, that is just a coincidence, because it is definitely a Nahua name.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
Keywords: 

tears, lágrimas, tristeza, sadness, alone, solo, solito, solitario, triste, vulnerable, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Nadie Consigo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 664v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=409&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: