Cuapeso (MH579v)

Cuapeso (MH579v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Cuapeso (“Head-Scale,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a frontal view of a European-style scale involving a balance with two cups suspended from a horizontal bar that is also suspended itself. A vertical bar hangs down between the cups.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The loanword "peso" came from Spanish into Nahuatl, often as peso and sometimes as pexo (and other spellings), as our Online Nahuatl Dictionary shows. Peso refers to the weight or weighing (the verb is pesar). Balanza is typically the word for the scale. It is unclear what the "head" (cua or cuaitl) part of the name indicates. Perhaps the baby who was given this name had a heavy head?

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

juā. guapeso

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Cuapeso

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
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Gender (male)
Measurements, Quantities
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
symmetry
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

weights, pesos, balances, scales, heads, cabezas, balanzas, quapeso, cuapexo, quapexo

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

cua, head, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cua-2
cua(itl), head, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuaitl
peso, a scale, or a coin, a Spanish unit of money; this is a loanword from Spanish, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/peso

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Cabeza-Balanza

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 579v, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=238&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: 

Pesoitta (MH490r)