Cipac (MH713v)

Cipac (MH713v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name, Cipac ("Crocodile"), is attested here as a man's name. The glyph shows an undulating, near S-shape that is covered with what are ten, long, sharp thorns or flint knives. The body has dots down the center of the back, too. The head is round with a large dot in the center. Cipactli (apocapated in the gloss) is the name of a day sign in the 260-day divinatory calendar called the tonalpohualli. Typically, a personal name from this calendar would have also had a number from 1 to 13 associated with the day sign. Sometimes the number falls away.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

See the Borgia Codex, Plate 21, for a representation of the animal covered with the red and white knife called the tecpatl. Another Borgia image, Plate 27, of this animal also has flint knives on its body. Mexicolore publishes both of these images. Some Cipac glyphs are more crocodilian and some are more abstract or stylized. A few look like fish. See below for some examples.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Movement
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
dotted, granular, textured
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

cocodrilos, caimanes, nombres de días, nombres de hombres

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

cipac(tli), crocodile, caiman, alligator, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cipactli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Cocodrilo o Caimán

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 713v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=505&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: 
"ç" for z or tz
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Cipac (MH778r)

Cipac (MH769v)

Cipac (MH595r)

Cipac (MH622r)