Cuatecuicuil (MH745r)
This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Cuatecuicuil (“Tamale Decorated with Beans in the Form of a Marine Shell”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph starts with a human head (cuaitl), which provides the phonetic start to the name, Cua-. At the base of the head is a stone (tetl), which provides the phonetic indication for the next syllable (te-). Finally, swirls appear where the hair would be.
Stephanie Wood
The swirls seem to represent the phonetic -cuicuil part of the name, drawing from some word referring to painting, such as cuicuiltic. Painted (pinto) beans can also be expressed as ecuicuilli. Two additional glyphs below for the personal name Cuicuil have swirling or curling shapes that suggest painting or writing.
Stephanie Wood
1560
Jeff Haskett-Wood
remolinos, comida, tamales, frijoles, pelo, piedras, nombres de hombres
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/CuatecuicuilMH475rCmpndPersNamMale.png?itok=XwtHpM-c)
cuatecuicuil(li), tamales decorated with beans in the shape of a marine shell, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuatecuicuilli
cua(itl), human head, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuaitl
te(tl), stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl
ecuicuil(li), pinto beans or spotted beans, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ecuicuilli
cuicuiltic, painted or spotted, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuicuiltic
Tamal Decorado con Frijoles en Forma de Concha Marina
Stephanie Wood
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 745r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=568&st=image
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).
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/CuatecuicuilMH475rContext.png)