Coatenan (MH679r)

Coatenan (MH679r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Coatenan (“Serpent Defender”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a serpent (coatl) curving up and to the left, curling around two horizontal stones (tetl) with their typical curling ends and diagonal stripes.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Tenan can also mean someone’s mother, so perhaps the serpent could be seen as someone’s mother or the mother of the people.

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: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
indefinite "te"
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Tongue Protruding/Noticeable
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
striped
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
bifurcated
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
right to left
Keywords: 

serpientes, madres, defensores, patrones, nombres de hombres

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

coa(tl), snake or serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl
tenan, defender or patron, or someone’s mother, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tenan
te(tl), stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl
te- (nonspecific human object prefix), someone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/te

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Serpiente Defensor

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 679r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=438&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: 
"u" for hu
Historical Contextualizing Image: