Cuachal (MH537v)

Cuachal (MH537v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Cuachal (“Broken Head,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a profile view of a man's head (cuaitl) , looking toward the viewer's right. If it is a large head, then it fits the noun cuachachal. The top of the head has a large piece missing. This is in the shape of a pie-shaped wedge. Perhaps the baby who was given this name experienced a head injury (referencing the verb cuachalania).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The placement of the gash into the head (cuaitl) of the tribute payer could serve as a phonetic complement, underlining that the name started with Cua-. Cuachal is used in contemporary Mexican Spanish to refer to a mess. Also, it may be irrelevant here, but cuacha (with no "l" on the end) is a Mexican word (with a P'urhépech origin) for excrement. See the Diccionario de Americanismos.

Cuachala is a toasted maize sauce known especially in Jalisco and Colima. Chachalo is a type of chile pepper that can be used in the sauce. (See our Online Nahuatl Dictionary for these entries.)

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

diego.guachal

Gloss Normalization: 

Diego Cuachal

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic possibilities
Syntax: 
noun(s)
verb
Writing Features: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Children, Childhood, Adolescence
Gender (male)
Health, Medicine
Humor (potentially)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
V-shapes, or wedge
profile view
facing right
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
inherent/internal/merged
Keywords: 

heads, cabezas, lesionadas, dañadas, daño, roto, rota, nombres de hombres

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

cuachachal, a person with a large head, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuachachal
cuachalania, to hit one's head, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuachalania
cua, head, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cua-2
chalani, to crack or break, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chalani

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

La Cabeza Lesionada

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 537v, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=154&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: 

Cuaitz (MH537r)

Cuauhol (MH579r)

Cuapolol (MH521v)

Cuatzontli (MH536r)