Chanticotzin (Verg26v)

Chanticotzin (Verg26v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Chantictzin (apparently a reference to the female divine force associated with the hearth, Chantico, “In the Home”), attested here as a man’s name. The compound has three elements, two of them seemingly phonetic indicators. First is the sign for chantli (home), which looks just like calli (house). The water (atl) seems to be a phonetic complement, clarifying that the first syllable includes the vowel sound “a.” The -co suffix to the name (without the reverential -tzin ending) would come from the pottery jug (comitl).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

If this is indeed a reference to the pre-contact sacred force of fire (female), Chantico, then perhaps the tlacuilo has gone to some lengths to disguise the name by making it phonetic as a way to avoid conflict with the colonial clergy. Serious events in Tetzcoco 1539 may have made Nahua tlacuilos more cautious when writing and painting about aspects of their faith. See Patricia Lopes Don for information about the Inquisition case against don Carlos Ometochtli, a Chichimecatecuhtli executed in late 1539, in Bonfires of Culture, 2010. Bradley Benton (The Lords of Tetzcoco, 2017, 46) also writes that the case “demonstrates that blatant disregard for Christianity had serious consequences.”

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

aol chaticzin

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Alonso Chanticotzin

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Vergara, Codex (Verg)
Date of Manuscript: 

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

near Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
syllable: a or atl
syllable: co or con (from comitl, pot/jug)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
fading tradition, or an effort to disguise?
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Architecture, Construction, Buildings
Gender (female)
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Pottery, Earthenware
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
3
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
right to left
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

arquitectura, casa, casas, hogar, hogares, fuego, agua, barro, cerámica, fonetismo, nombres de hombres, men’s names, nombres de fuerzas divinas, nombres de fuerzas sagradas

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

Chantico, female divine force associated with fire, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chantico

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

(el nombre de la fuerza divina del fuego, Chantico, “En el Hogar”)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 26v, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f60.item.zoom, accessed 22 February 2026. The Vergara is associated with Tepetlaoztoc, in the larger region of Tetzcoco, c. 1539–1543.

Image Source, Rights: 

The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/.

Orthography: 
dropped "n"
dropped "o"
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Chantico (TR21v)