Ayocuan (MH493r)

Ayocuan (MH493r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Ayocuan (attested male in the contextualizing image) consists of an upright feather. The feather has diagonal lines like chevrons.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The use of a feather for the name of a bird underlines the cultural importance of feathers that were extracted from birds. The fact that this is a colorful bird was not lost on the Nahuas, it was a major part of the attraction. In fact, as our Online Nahuatl Dictionary entry for ayocuan shows, there were two colorful birds with this name. Also, the noun became an adjective that meant "unequaled, nothing like it."

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

joseph aoguā

Gloss Normalization: 

José Ayocuan

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzinco, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
adjective
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Feathers
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

José Aguayo-Barragán and Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
diagonal or angled
striped
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

birds, pájaros, plumas, feathers, colors, colores

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

ayocuan, colorful bird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ayocuan

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Pájaro de Colores

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood (drawing from Alonso de Molina)

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 493r, World Digital Library. https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=65&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: 

Maceuh (MH625v)