Cuachil (MH517v)

Cuachil (MH517v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the personal name Cuachil has two main elements. One is a human head (cua-) and the other is a chile pepper (chilli). The head, which doubles as the portrait of the tribute payer who holds the name Cuachil, is shown in profile, facing toward the viewer's right, and its face is painted a pink flesh tone. The chile pepper is vertical, with its stem touching the top of the person's head. Whether intentional or not, the chile pepper seems to have some shading and some places of shine.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The name Cuachil seems to really refer to a bird, the common gallinule, and the head and chile pepper provide a rebus that is a double phonogram of the parts of the word. The gallinule can have beautiful blue feathers and an orange beak, as shown in a photo in Wikipedia.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
homophony, rebus
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound fully phonographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Food, Eating, Cooking
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
black & white drawing (no color)
red
tan
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
shading and parallel line hatching
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

cuachil(li), a common gallinule (bird), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuachilli
cua-, head, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cua-2
chil(li), pepper, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chilli

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 517v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=114&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: 
"g" for c, q, or x
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

chilli (Mdz13v)