Cimatl (MH575r)

Cimatl (MH575r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Cimatl (“Wild Potato,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a bifurcated root with two leafy sprigs above. The term cimatl refers to the root specifically. According to the Florentine Codex (1963, Book 11, 125 and 133), if not properly cooked, the root can cause vomiting and diarrhea. The plant above ground is the cuauheco and/or the cimapatli (cimapahtli, with the glottal stop).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The cimatl is still widely eaten in Mexico according to Michel Conan, Sacred Gardens and Landscapes (2007, 85).

Other examples of this name include Cima and Cimatl (see below). While this Cima is a man's name, another Cimatl (in another source) was the mother of the interpreter to Cortés, doña Marina. (See: Antoinette Sedillo López, Latina Issues, 2020.)

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

galisto. cimatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Calixto Cimatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Food, Eating, Cooking
Gender (male)
Health, Medicine
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Plants, Flora
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bifurcated
frontal view
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

herbs, hierbas, roots, raíces, medicinas, cima

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

cima(tl), edible medicinal root of an herb, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cimatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Raíz o Tubérculo Comestible

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 575r, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=229&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).

Orthography: 
"g" for c, q, or x
"s" for x
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Cima (MH520r)

Cima (MH531r)

camotl (Mdz44r)

Cima (MH626v)

Cimatl (MH638r)

Cima (MH660r)