Cica (MH633r)

Cica (MH633r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Cica is attested here as a woman's name. The elements are a woman's head in profile, looking toward the viewer's right. This is not the head of the person of the census, but another female head. There is an object at her neck that is difficult to identify. Perhaps it is a grasping hand (where the fingers are not visible), representing the "hua" syllable of cihuatl (woman). Cihuatl may be a phonetic indicator for the start of this name, but this requires further analysis A speech scroll comes out of her mouth. Having a voice could imply a leadership role, perhaps suggesting cacica (elite Indigenous woman), which overlaps by two syllables with the name Cica.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The term cacica entered into Spanish during the colonization of the islands in the Caribbean, and from Spanish it would enter Nahuatl. But it may be unlikely to see it used here in Huejotzingo in 1560. An alternate reading of the name could be Tzica, referring to the large, red, poisonous, biting ant (tzicatl), but there are no visuals that point to this. The decipherment requires further investigation.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

maria
çica

Gloss Normalization: 

María Cica (or Tzica?)

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
hua (grasping hand)
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Gender (female)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Scrolls (Speech, Song, etc.)
Social Hierarchy, Commoners, Elites
Speech, Speaking, Oral Tradition
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
volute(s)
profile view
facing right
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
3
Keywords: 

women, nombres de mujeres, voice, voz, speech, hablar, cacicas, volutas

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

cacica, a female indigenous elite, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cacica
tzica(tl), a large, red, biting, poisonous ant, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzicatl

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 633r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=348st=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).

Orthography: 
"çi" for ci
Historical Contextualizing Image: