Ezmalin (SMA1v)

Ezmalin (SMA1v)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This painted compound Nahuatl hieroglyph features the personal name Ezmalin (perhaps "Bloody Grass"). This is the name of a Nahua man with the baptismal name of Marcos. He is the head of the household in the census of Cuauhtepuztitla, a rural community of Tepetlaoztoc (Tepetlaoxtoc today). The glyph is a twisted piece of grass (malinalli) painted red for blood. Blood (eztli) also splashes off the twisted part.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

It is possible that the name Ezmalin has a different meaning than the sum of its elements, and the parts actually have a phonetic contribution. But that remains to be seen. Malinalli was a day name in the 260-day religious divinatory calendar.

The name is not unknown. The final "n" has dropped away, and there is an intrusive "h" in the orthography of the gloss here, which makes it comparable to the other man with this name in the central valley, Martín de San Juan Ezmalin, living in Mexico City in 1564. [See: Charles Gibson, The Aztecs under Spanish Rule, 1964, 187.]

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: