Cuauh (MH577r)

Cuauh (MH577r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Cuauh (“Tree,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a frontal view of a tree trunk, with branches that have been partially cut off and with roots showing. One living thing coming off this tree (cuahuitl) is a sprig of amaranth (huauhtli), which is there to serve as a phonetic indicator, aiding in the reading of the name as Cuauh and not some other term for tree.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This Nahua name is preceded in the gloss by a Christian first name (Toribio). He may have been named after Toribio de Benavente, also known as Motolinia ("One Who is Poor or Afflicted"). This was the first word he learned in Nahuatl, and he went on to learn the language well. He lived in the monastery in Huejotzingo. Doing a quick search for the name "Toribio" will produce an impressive result.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

doribio.guauh

Gloss Normalization: 

Toribio Cuauh

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 dimensions
Syntax: 
hua (from huauhtli, amaranth)
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Food, Eating, Cooking
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Plants, Flora
Religion (Christian)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
vertical, upright
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
inherent/internal/merged
upward
Keywords: 

plants, plantas, los bledos

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

huauh(tli), amaranth, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huauhtli
cuahu(itl), tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuahuitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Águila, El Árbol, o Los Bledos

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 577r, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=233&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: 
"d" for t
"g" for c, q, or x
Historical Contextualizing Image: