Cuacuauh (MH626v)

Cuacuauh (MH626v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This personal name glyph, Cuacuauh ("Horned," from cuacuahuitl), shows a man's head with two pointed horns at the top, each one curving inward. The entire glyph is a black-line drawing. The head is shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right. The straight, dark hair on his head consists of bangs on the forehead and hair on the side of his head, covering down to below the ears (which are not visible).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The horns [cuacuahuitl are likely the root of the name, given that we are not seeing a horned animal, such as an ox or a bull [cuacuahu(e)], but they could be an abbreviated visual reference to such an animal. Besides being a name attested in Huejotzingo, this name is attested in census records from Cuernavaca in the 1540s. See the link to the name Cuacuauh in our Online Nahuatl Dictionary. Juan José Batalla Rosado (El Arte de Escribir, 2018, 76) includes the cuacuahuitl ("cuerno de animal") in his list of visual loans. He finds the Matrícula de Huexotzinco to show the greatest degree of Western influence of all colonial codices.

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

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
facing right
profile view
pointed (see also spiky)
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

astas, cuernos, animal horns, cattle, oxen, ganado, bueyes

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

cuacuahui(tl), horns, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuacuahuitl-2

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Él con Cuernos, o Él con Astas

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 626v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=335st=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: 

Cuacuauh (MH483r)

Cuacuauh (MH485r)

Cuacuauh (MH487r)

Cuacuauh (MH736r)