Cuezal (MH502r)

Cuezal (MH502r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Cuezal (here, attested as a man’s name) shows one upright feather, presumably from a scarlet macaw (cuezalin). It has some texturing and an added down feather toward the bottom of the feather. Below that is a pointed, hollow shaft.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

These red feathers were highly prized. They were paid as a form of tributes in kind from communities where the bird could be found, such as along the southern coast of Mexico. The town of Cuezallan, in this collection, was a place with many scarlet macaw feathers. These feathers were also traded as far north as what is now the U.S. Southwest and Northwest.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

diego
cueçal

Gloss Normalization: 

Diego Cuezal

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)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Feathers
Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Tributes, Taxation, Service
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
dotted, granular, textured
vertical, upright
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

cuezal(in), feathers of scarlet macaw, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuezalin

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 502r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=83&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: 

Cuezallan (Mdz6r)

Cuezallan (Mdz37r)