Cihuateotzin (MH686r)

Cihuateotzin (MH686r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Cihuateotzin (“Female Deity” or "Female Divinity” in the reverential form)" is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows two vertical stripes painted onto the cheek of the tribute payer himself. This is either the glyph for the phonetic syllable “hua” of huahuana (to make stripes), or it has morphed into the glyph for “cihua.”

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See examples of the glyph for Cihuateotl (without the reverential suffix) below. One is the head of a woman in a profile view with the stripes on her cheek, reiterating “woman.” The other is the head of a nenetl (deity or doll, both often female) in a frontal view, and no cheek stripes. It is not clear whether this name has any reflection on the gender or sexuality of the man who carries it.

Added 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

Syntax:

hua (from huahuana, two vertical lines)

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Face Paint or Tattoos

Gender (female)

Gender (male)

Names (men's, but w/ female dimension)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Religion (Indigenous)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cihua(tl), woman, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cihuatl
teo(tl), a divine or sacred force, divinity, deity, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teotl
-tzin (reverential suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzin

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 686r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=452&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: