Ce Xochitl (MH908r)

Ce Xochitl (MH908r)
Simplex Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Ce Xochitl (“One Flower” or “1-Flower”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows two three-petaled flowers, each one with a stem base. Coming up between the two flowers (xochitl) is the counter for the number one (ce). It is a rectangular bar, somewhat taller than the flowers. This is a calendrical name based on the tonalpohualli, a 260-day religious divinatory calendar, which here combines the day name xochitl with the notation of one. Interestingly, we have two flowers, and this makes more sense than it might seem, because the notation of one is not meant to count the flower as one. It is a numerical companion to the day name.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Tonalpohualli names were being discouraged by the colonial clergy, and yet here we see the persistence of some of these names. This one still has both the day name and the notational companion. But in other examples, one will find just a number or just a day name, perhaps as a result of forgetting, just abbreviating, or a type of subterfuge to avoid clerical disapproval. See comparisons, below, where Ce Xochitl sometimes has the notation and sometimes just involves a single flower. Is the latter a form of forgetting that the number did not intend to count the flower?

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

Sebastia ce xochitl

Gloss Normalization:

Sebastian Ce Xochitl

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:

calendrics

day name

year name

numbers

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

visual plural (multiples of objects)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flowers

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Numbers, Math

Religion (Christian)

Religion (Indigenous)

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

tripartite

Keywords:

flores, números, uno, calendarios, nombres de días, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

ce, one, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ce
xoch(itl), flowers, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Uno-Flor, o 1-Flor

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 908r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=886&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).

Orthography:

dropped "n"

Historical Contextualizing Image: