Coyotl Inahual (MH667r)

Coyotl Inahual (MH667r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Coyotl Inahual (“Coyote’s Nahual” or “Coyote’s Shape-Shifting Animal Spirit”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows the head of a coyote in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. This animal head (the nahualli) is sitting on the head of the tribute payer who has this name. The coyote’s tongue is long and protruding. His ears have shading that gives them three dimensionality. His coat is textured.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

"Coyotl Inahual" is mentioned in the Florentine Codex as a deity. The amantecas (feather workers) were devoted to him, and an enslaved person would be killed as an offering to him. (See the Getty's Digital Florentine Codex, Book 9, ff. 59v and 60v., https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/book/9/folio/59v and https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/book/9/folio/60v, García-Garagarza translations, 2023.) In other examples of nahualli spirits, below, one can see that the placement of the personal spirit is often on the crown of the human’s head. Other nahualli glyphs show something like a caterpillar, perhaps because the caterpillar or cocoon undergoes a shape-shifting transformation.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

diego. coyotlynaual.

Gloss Normalization:

Diego Coyotl Inahual (or Coyotlinahual)

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)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Religion (Indigenous)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

shading and parallel line hatching

spotted or mottled

three-dimensionality

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

right to left

Keywords:

nahuales, transformación, sobrenatural, espíritus, cabezas, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

nahual(li), a shape-shifting spirit, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahualli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Nahual

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 667r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=414&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:

"y" for i

dropped "h"

intrusive period

Historical Contextualizing Image: