Cocol (MH608v)

Cocol (MH608v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Cocol (perhaps "Quarrel," "Pain," or "Twisted") attested here as a man's name. The glyph shows the hand of a person off screen grabbing and pulling the hair on the head of a man whose head is only showing. This head is shown in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. If the reading is not about anger, it may be that the hand is taking the person into custody, implying the other meaning of cocol. (See the dictionary entries.) But this glyph is very similar to the glyph for the name Cocoliloc ("Hated," below); perhaps Cocol is an abbreviated version of the name.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This name has various visual representations in this digital collection, and it requires further study before settling upon a satisfactory translation. The visual variation may mean that some glyphs represent one translation of cocol- and some represent a different one. Some could be literal, and some may be phonetic indicators.

To pull or cut someone's hair in Nahua culture was a grave insult and cause of intense emotion. Sonya Lipsett-Rivera writes about the ritual humiliation of hair pulling in Religion in New Spain, eds. Susan Schroeder and Stafford Poole (2007), 79.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

Juā cocol

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Cocol

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
Syntax: 
noun(s)
reduplication (in gloss/text)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Emotions
Gender (male)
Hair (human or animal)
Hair pulling
Names (personal and/or theonym)
War or Conflict
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

hair pulling, tirar pelo, enojarse, ira, enojo, pelea, pull, jalar, nombres de hombres

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

cocol(li), a quarrel, pain, something twisted, or the divine force of fire, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cocolli
cocol, to be entrusted to another person, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cocol
cocolia, to detest or hate someone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cocolia

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

posiblemente, Pelea, Dolor, Retorcido, Riña, o Enojo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 608v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=299&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: 
See Also: 

Cocoliloc (MH591r)

icali (TR34v)

Tecocohua (MH627v)

Otonmani (MH560r)

Tochahua (MH537v)

Cocol (MH602r)

Cocol (MH515v)

Cocol (MH520v)

cocolli (Mdz37r)

Cocol (MH834r)

Mexicamani (MH871r)

Cocol (MH885r)