Cacax (MH501r)

Cacax (MH501r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Cacax (here, attested as a man’s name) shows a carrying frame (cacaxtli). It has the look of a ladder with two parallel posts about a body's width apart and three rungs. Nahuas put this on their backs when they needed to attach a heavy load to it. It would have been made of wood. Such a frame can still be seen occasionally in rural areas.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Mexicolore publishes a sixteenth-century image of the tribute item that was 200 "cacaxtles," according to the gloss. The one pictured has six rungs plus a tump line (mecapalli) for putting onto one's forehead, which distributes some of the weight. This image from the Codex Mendoza also appears in this collection (see below).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

Juan
cacax

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Cacax

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
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Wood, wooden things
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
rectangular
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

marcos de transporte, carrying frames

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

cacax(tli), a frame for carrying things on the back, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cacaxtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Cacaxtle

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 501r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=81&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: 

cacaxtli (Mdz42r)

cacaxtli (TR41v)

tlamama (TR41v)