Chiconquiyauhco (MH595v)

Chiconquiyauhco (MH595v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the place name Chiconquiyauhco (“At 7-Rain,” which is calendar-based) shows a frontal view of a white building, and on the roof are three (not seven) rain glyphs. Rain is a day sign of the calendar; sometimes it is represented by the head of Tlaloc, the divine force of rain. But these glyphic elements here each have a triangular flow of water with a large droplet/bead at the bottom. The frontal view of the building helps the reader see that there is an entrance (quiyahuac), which serves as a phonetic reinforcement for the reading of rain (quiyahuitl).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This place name involves a day sign that comes from the tonalpohualli, the 260-day divinatory calendar. Calendrics figure importantly in Nahuas' religious views of the cosmos.

As our Online Nahuatl Dictionary entry for quiyahuitl shows, there was a strong relationship between tears and raindrops. When children cried, people believed that to be a sign that it would rain. Rainfall had a strong association with the deity or priest called Tlaloc, who could bring on the rain and facilitate fertility in agriculture (Florentine Codex, Book 1). Tlaloc wore a necklace of green stones, which also symbolized water or precious raindrops.

For a visual of rain in the Florentine Codex, with its companion number "one" (also a day name), see this page in the Digital Florentine Codex, published by the Getty Research Institute.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

chiconquiyauhco
barrio

Gloss Normalization:

Chiconquiyauhco, barrio

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Semantic Categories:

calendrics

day name

numbers

phonetic dimensions

place name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Architecture, Construction, Buildings

Names (places)

Numbers, Math

Religion (Indigenous)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Water

Weather, Climate

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

numbers, números, siete, tres, seven, three, rain, lluvia, storm, tormenta, casa, edificios, arquitectura nombres de lugares, dates, fechas, signos de días, quiyahuac, entradas, afueras

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chicome, seven, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chicome
quiyahuitl, rain or rainstorm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quiyahuitl
quiyahuac, outside or entrance, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quiyahuac

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

En Siete-Lluvia, En 7-Lluvia

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 595v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=270&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: