Chachalacatl (MH712r)

Chachalacatl (MH712r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This colorful simplex glyph for the personal name Chachalacatl (perhaps, “A Chatterbox,”), is attested as a man’s name. The glyph consists of five speech scrolls (volutes) emanating from the tax payer’s own mouth. Some curl up, some curl down, but they all emanate outward from the mouth. Two are green, two are yellow, and the middle one is red.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

A similar glyph in this collection, for the verb chachalaca, to chatter, has the scrolls emanating from a bird’s beak. This is relevant, given that the verb for chattering often refers to bird sounds. However, that one, like this one, is referencing a person who apparently speaks a lot (or perhaps jabbered as a baby).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

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)

Scrolls (Speech, Song, etc.)

Speech, Speaking, Oral Tradition

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

green (light)

red

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

volute(s)

Keywords:

hablar, chismear, charlar, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

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

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

(una persona habladora)

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 712r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=502&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:

"ll" for l

Historical Contextualizing Image: