Cocopin (TK204v)

Cocopin (TK204v)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the personal name Cocopin, who was a male Indigenous ruler in Tepetlaoztoc (spelled Tepetlaoxtoc today). According to a study in the Collected Works in Mesoamerican Linguistics and Archaeology (1998, 16), the name means “bloomed-out” or “the one who speaks cheerfully.” The compound hieroglyph for this name is entirely phonographic. It begins at the bottom with a pottery jug (comitl), which supplies the phonetic syllable at the start of the name, Co-. Above that is a dart or arrow (mitl) that is broken. The small pointed end could intend the phonetic syllable -pin from pintic (something small and pointed). The text near the portrait (in the contextualizing image) and the images on the same page provide details of the tributes that the pueblo of Mazahuacan had to pay to Cocopin. These included textiles, baskets, firewood and masons who would work in construction on his behalf.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Spanish colonizers would be very interested in tribute payments such as these, as they were demanding some for themselves, too. An interesting additional story about the Acolhua ruler Cocopin, as noted in our Online Nahuatl Dictionary, is that he married Acaxochitl (also seen as Acaxoch and Acaxuch). She would succeed him as ruler when he died. This woman was a daughter of Nezahualcoyotl, a famous ruler of Tetzcoco (spelled Texcoco today). See below for two place names that share the root acaxochitl (tuberous lobelia).

Side Note: The folio numbers are not always clear in the copy published online by the British Museum. Marc Thouvenot gives this page the number K02_B in his TLACHIA digital collection, https://tlachia.iib.unam.mx/tepetlaoztoc/K02_B.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

cocopin

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Cocopin

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Tepetlaoztoc, Codex (aka Kingsborough) (TK)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1556

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Tepetlaoztoc, East of Lake Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
syllable: co/con/com (from comitl, pot/jug)
syllable: pin (from pintic, small & pointed)
Writing Features: 
compound fully phonographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Pottery, Earthenware
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
brown
red
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Keywords: 

gobernantes, tlatoani, tlahtoani, tributos, mujeres en poder

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

Cocopin, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cocopin
com(itl), pottery jug, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/comitl
pintic, something small and pointed, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pintic

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

(un gobernante de Tepetlaoztoc, Tetzcoco)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

The Codex Kingsborough, also known as the Códice de Tepetlaoztoc, and the Memorial de los indios de Tepetlaoztoc, is not on display. It was transferred from the British Library and is now held by the British Museum. It is shared on line at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am2006-Drg-13964

Image Source, Rights: 

©The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. Please also cite the <em>Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphsem>, ed. Stephanie Wood (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities Projects, 2020-present) and this URL.

Orthography: 
intrusive period
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Acaxochic (Mdz32r)

Acaxochitla (Mdz30r)