Chalchiuhtototl (MH523r)

Chalchiuhtototl (MH523r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Chalchiuhtototl (here, attested as a man's name) has two elements. On the viewer's left is a frontal view of a large circle with an inner circle and segmentation that radiates. Around the perimeter of the large circle are four small circles. These are spaced so that if lines were drawn to connect them, they would form an X. Inside each of these smaller circles on the perimeter is a dot. This is the sign for chalchihuitl (local jade, or green stone). To the right of this is a bird (tototl) shown in profile, looking toward the viewer's right. One of its legs is raised, as though it is walking, moving.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The name literally works out to "Jade-Bird." It may be another name or guise for Tezcatlipoca, a major Nahua deity or divine force. The Codex Telleriano-Remensis (folio 10 verso) has a portrait of "chalchiuhtotoli o tezcatlipoca," according to the gloss.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
Keywords: 

gems, joyas, green stones, jades, birds, pájaros, deidades, fuerzas divinas

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Jade-Pájaro

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 523r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=125&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: