Cuetlach (MH493r)

Cuetlach (MH493r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name (here, attested male) Cuetlach shows the head of a wolf in frontal view. Its ears are standing up, its eyes are closed, and it appears to have eyebrows. Its coat is textured, and some long hairs hang down on both sides of its lower jaw.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The Mexican Wolf is threatened with extinction, but it has had a notable presence in Nahua culture since the autonomous era, even though glyphs for cuetlachtli are somewhat rarer than other animals in this collection (see some comparisons, below), but many animal names come from the tonalpohualli, divinatory calendar of 260 days. See our Online Nahuatl Dictionary for more information about wolves, such as the wolf skin seat, a wolf skin cape, and a priest ("Old Wolf") who wore a wolf skin when taking a prisoner to the sacrificial stone, "weeping and howling" during this activity.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

Juā cuetlach

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Cuetlach

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzinco, Puebla

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

José Aguayo-Barragán and Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
Keywords: 

wolves, lobos

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

cuetlach(tli), wolf, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuetlachtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Lobo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 493r, World Digital Library. https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=65&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: 

Cuetlach (MH527v)

Cuetlach (MH639v)

miztli (MH486r)

Cuinton (MH509r)

itzcuintli (Mdz16r)

chichi (Mdz32r)