Chiucnahui Tecpatl (CQ)

Chiucnahui Tecpatl (CQ)
Compound Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound notation-glyph refers to the solar year date Nine Flint Knife (Chiucnahui Tecpatl or Chiucnauhtecpatl). It has the Mixtec A-O glyph for year (xihuitl), being pierced by the flint (tecpatl), and a horizontal row of nine ones in the form of small, colored circles. The A is turquoise blue and the horizontal O is red. The tecpatl, at an angle, is divided into two parts on a diagonal; the upper part is red, and the lower part is white. The ones are painted (L-R), red, yellow, turquoise, red, yellow, turquoise, then yellow, red, turquoise (the latter three breaking what may have been meant as a pattern, intentional or not, it is unclear).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The A-O year glyph suggests a southern Puebla location for the towns mentioned in this manuscript, supported by the presence of towns such as as Huitziltepec, Todos Santos (Xochitlan), and Tochtepec (all located between Puebla and Tehuacan). As found in other examples of the flint knife, the tecpatl is often red and white. Perhaps the red implies blood and sacrificial offerings.

A study of the Codex Quetzalecatzin made by Sebastián van Doesburg notes that the year Chiucnahui Tecpatl (Nine Flint Knife) is associated with the start of the rule of Chicuace Olin (Six Movement) and Matlactli Omei Mazatl (Thirteen Deer), plus a second wife. This long period of rule began in 1528 and ended in Chicuace Tecpatl (1564). [See the citation for van Doesburg's study in our Bibliography, and see pp. 132, 135.]

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Quetzalecatzin, Codex (CQ)

Date of Manuscript:

covers ruling men and women of Tecamachalco through 1593

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

southern Puebla state

Semantic Categories:

calendrics

year name

numbers

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Gifts, Offerings, Sacrifice

Numbers, Math

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

A-shapes (any direction)

diagonal or angled

leaf, marquise, pointed oval

O-shapes (any direction)

twisted or entwined

Parts (of compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Other Cultural Influences:

Mixtec

Keywords:

five, cinco, numbers, números, flint knives, cuchillos de obsidiana, xiuhpohualli, año, turquesa, xihuitl

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

chiucnahui, nine, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chiucnahui
tecpa(tl), reed, reed-arrow, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Nueve Pedernal, 9-Pedernal

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Ofelia Cruz Morales

Image Source:

The Codex Quetzalecatzin, aka Mapa de Ecatepec-Huitziltepec, Codex Ehecatepec-Huitziltepec, or Charles Ratton Codex. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017590521/

Image Source, Rights:

The Library of Congress, current custodian of this pictorial Mexican manuscript, hosts a digital version online. It is not copyright protected.

Historical Contextualizing Image: