Chalchiuh (MH520r)

Chalchiuh (MH520r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Chalchiuh (here, attested as a man's name), shows two large concentric circles with some divisions and markings inside both circles. Around the perimeter are four smaller circles evenly spaced, and each of these has a yet smaller circle inside it. If the outer circles were connected, the shape would be an X. The effect is a quincunx. This is the chalchihuitl (local jade, green stone) glyph.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See other examples of the chalchihuitl glyph below.

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

pe^o chalchiuh

Gloss Normalization:

Pedro Chalchiuh

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:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Gender (male)

Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Turquoise or Jade

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle, circular or rounded

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

quincunx or quatrefoil

shimmer, vibrance, shine with warmth & movement

Keywords:

jades, piedras verdes, brilla

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book Notes:

This stone carving of the glyph for jade (chalchihuitl) is located in the Museo Xolotl in the archaeological site of Tenayuca (in the region of Tlalnepantla, Mexico City). One of the circlets on the perimeter--in the upper left corner--has been broken off. Photo by Stephanie Wood, 13 August 2023.

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chalchihui(tl), jade or greenstone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chalchihuitl

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 520r, World Digital Library.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=119&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: