Ecatl (MH498v)

Ecatl (MH498v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Ecatl (perhaps meaning "Air" or "Breath," but pictured as Ehecatl, the divine force of wind) is attested as a man's name. It shows what appears to be a bird head in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. The beak is open. Above the upper part of the beak is a protrusion that is squared off. It has two vertical lines dividing it somewhat. The visible eye appears to be open.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The gloss gives "Ecatl," but the visuals suggest "Ehecatl." A great many glyphs in this collection start with Eca- when one might expect Eheca-. We are preserving the proclivity of the gloss for Eca-, while also pointing to the likelihood of an unintentional oral abbreviation of Eheca- to Eca-.

Gabrielle Vail and ‎Christine Hernández (Re-Creating Primordial Time, 2013, ) describe Ehecatl as the wind aspect of Quetzalcoatl, and they note that Ehecatl "wears a buccal (duck) mask through which to blow wind." That the "beak" may have been perceived as a blowing device is supported by the glyph for Pitztli (below).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

Juā
hecatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Ecatl (or Juan Ehecatl?)

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: 
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Weather, Climate
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
facing right
profile view
pointed (see also spiky)
Keywords: 

wind, viento, deidades, deities, divine forces, fuerzas divinas, máscaras, masks, aliento, aire

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

eheca(tl)/Ehecatl, wind, or the divine force or spirit of the wind, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ehecatl
eca(tl), breath air, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ecatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

La Fuerza Divina del Viento

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 498v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=76&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 "h" or "hu"
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Ecatl (MH515v)

Ehecatl (TR26r)

Ecatl (CQ)

Ecatl (MH661v)

Ecatl (MH874v)

Pitztli (MH874v)