Ecatecolotl (MH816v)

Ecatecolotl (MH816v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Ecatecolotl (perhaps “Wind Deity-Owl”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a frontal view of the hairy head of an owl with two large eyes wide open and its beak pointing downward. Coming off the left side of the beak is what looks like another beak, but this seemingly represents the device that the divine force of the wind was believed to use to blow wind around on Earth.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

As is so very common, Eca- (air, breath) is the spelling in the gloss that is associated here with the visual representation of the wind deity (Ehecatl, which should involve a reduplication of the first letter of Eca- plus a glottal stop). We are preserving this spelling pattern in this digital collection. Ehecatl was also a day sign in the 260-day religious divinatory calendar (tonalpohualli). The combination of Ecatl or Ehecatl with -tecolotl (owl) is not common. A person named Ecatecolotl was apparently a Chalca leader who helped Cortés when he invaded Mexico. It is unclear whether the person with this name in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco was named for the Chalca leader or perhaps the name was not as unusual as it seems. [See: Rafael García Granados, Diccionario biográfico de historia antigua de México, (México: UNAM, 1995), 281.]

The owl (tecolotl) is typically–but not exclusively–shown in a frontal view. Perhaps this view was intended to be more intimidating.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories:

calendrics

day name

deity name/theonym

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Weather, Climate

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

left to right

Keywords:

aires, aliento, viento, nombres de deidades, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

eca(tl), air or breath, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ecatl
eheca(tl), wind, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ehecatl
tecolo(tl), owl, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecolotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Deidad del Viento-Buho

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 816v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=707&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:

intrusive "n"

intrusive overbar

Historical Contextualizing Image: