Cozcacuauh (MH484r)

Cozcacuauh (MH484r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This is a compound glyph for the personal name Cozcacuauh ("King Vulture," attested here as a man's name). The gloss is cut off, so perhaps the name is Cozcacuauhtli, with the absolutive, but other examples of Cozcacuauh point to that abbreviated version. The glyph components include the head of an eagle (cuauhtli) shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right. Its eye is open, its beak is slightly open, and it has dark feather tufts surrounding its face. Below this head is a simple necklace (cozcatl), circular, with three beads strung on perhaps a leather thong. Everything is drawn with black lines and no additional colorants.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The necklace does not have a semantic contribution; it provides the phonetic "cozca" that is the start of the word for vulture. Otherwise, the person'a name might be mistaken for simply "Cuauh," Eagle. Thus, this compound comprises two phonograms.

Cozcacuauhtli is a day sign in the tonalpohualli, the 260-day divinatory calendar. Normally, the vulture would have a numerical companion from 1 to 13, but the number has been inadvertently dropped or suppressed. Calendrics figure importantly in Nahuas' religious views of the cosmos.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

cozcaqu...

Gloss Normalization:

Cozcacu[auhtli]

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:

calendrics

day name

personal name

phonetic dimensions

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound fully phonographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

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

Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment

Leather, hides

Mouth/Beak Open

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Religion (Indigenous)

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

spiky

profile view

facing right

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

eagles, buitres, águilas, collares, necklaces, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cozcacuauh(tli), a vulture and other birds, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cozcacuauhtli
cozca(tl), necklace, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cozcatl
cuauh(tli), eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Buitre

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 484r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=47&st=image&r=-0.559,-....

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: