Chicomaca (MH648v)

Chicomaca (MH648v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This colorful painting of the compound glyph for the personal name Chicomacatl (or "Chicome Acatl," "Seven Reed" or 7-Reed) is attested here as a man's name. The compound includes a pot (comitl), a phonetic indicator for the "co" syllable in the number seven (chicome). The reed (acatl) is vertical, yellow, and segmented. It has two green leaves. The reed stands in the pot.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This is a calendrical name from the 260-day religious, divinatory calendar, the tonalpohualli. If not specifically referring to the calendar, the name can also refer to a medicinal herb called chicomacatl, which probably still also has associations with the calendar. Originally, a calendrical name such as this would have shown the number seven in a notation of dots. Perhaps to disguise that this was a calendrical name, the pot takes the place of the notation.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

juā chicomaca

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Chicomaca

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

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

cerámica, plantas, cañas, días, fechas, calendarios, tonalpohualli, nombres de hombres

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

Siete Caña, o 7-Caña

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 648v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=379&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: