Chachalaca (MH680v)

Chachalaca (MH680v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Chachalaca (“He Chatters” or “He Gossips”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a vertical jaw with teeth spewing out five speech scrolls, which represent the verb to chatter or gossip (chachalaca).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The jaw with teeth is angled somewhat naturalistically, with a straight part where the front teeth would be, and then turning on both sides and going back. The positioning of the jaw, however, is not shown in a Western manner, but it is vertical, with the front teeth on the left. See another example in the glyph for Tlacocohua, below.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

franco. chachalaca.

Gloss Normalization: 

Francisco Chachalaca

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
Syntax: 
verb
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Scrolls (Speech, Song, etc.)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Keywords: 

hablar, chismes, charlas, volutas, verbos, nombres de hombres

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

chachalaca, to chatter like a bird or to gossip, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chachalaca-0

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Charla, o Chismea

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 680v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=441&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: 

Tlacocohua (MH668r)