Cozcamatzin (MH538r)

Cozcamatzin (MH538r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Cozcamatzin (attested here as a man’s name) shows a necklace (cozcatl) with three beads at the site where a bracelet might be expected, at the base of a hand (mait)). The reverential suffix (-tzin) is not shown visually.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The literal translation, "Necklace-Hand," seems unlikely, but an idiomatic translation for this name is elusive. There are several glyphs for bracelet (macuextli) that look much like this one. Perhaps this is a variant, another way of saying bracelet? Alternatively, the term cozcamaitl was documented in Tzinacapan in 1984 as meaning "listones del collar," or necklace ribbons. (See: Gran Diccionario Náhuatl, https://gdn.iib.unam.mx/diccionario/cozcamaitl/182523.)

There was a famous merchant named Cozcamatzin (mentioned in an online study called "El Chalchihuitl: Trafico, Tributo y Comercio de La Piedra"). The use of the reverential (-tzin) suggests a degree of status.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

luys. cozcamatzin

Gloss Normalization:

Luis Cozcamatzin

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephaie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Gender (male)

Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

circle, circular or rounded

facing left

frontal view

vertical, upright

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

collares, manos

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book Notes:

These beads are located in the Regional Museum of Guadalajara. The strings are not the originals. Presumably these strands represent chalchihuitl (green) and xihuitl (turquoise), but the distinction between blue and green is not always hard and fast. (Photo by Stephanie Wood, 4 February 2025.)

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cozca(tl), necklace, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cozcatl-0
ma(itl), hand, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl
-tzin, reverential suffix, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzin

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Collar-Mano (?)

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 538r, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=155&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

Historical Contextualizing Image: