Huecanemitl (MH488r)

Huecanemitl (MH488r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Huecanemitl (“One Who Lives Far Away,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a bird's eye view of two footprints going upward (perhaps intending far away, or hueca). The -nemitl part of the name (which is the verb nemi, to live, with an added absolutive, -tl), appears to be a woven mat for sleeping, seemingly placed between two walls or perhaps on a road. Nemini is a resident; might nemitl have a similar meaning, such as one who lives or goes about?

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

It is a challenge to express "far away" visually, for it is not going to be within sight. But the footprints could suggest travel and therefore distance. Elsewhere, nemi has been represented by footprints. So, this interpretation that suggests the living part is expressed by the petlatl (woven mat) is tentative. But people did (and sometimes still do) sleep on woven mats.

Footprint glyphs have a wide range of translations. In this collection, so far, we can attest to yauh, xo, pano, -pan, paina, temo, nemi, quetza, otli, iyaquic hualiloti, huallauh, tetepotztoca, totoco, -tihui, and the vowel "o." Other research (Herrera et al, 2005, 64) points to additional terms, including: choloa, tlaloa, totoyoa, eco, aci, quiza, maxalihui, centlacxitl, and xocpalli.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

pedro huecanemitl

Gloss Normalization:

Pedro Huecanemitl

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

phonetic possibilities

Syntax:

noun(s)

verb

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Architecture, Construction, Buildings

Footprint(s), human

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Transportation, Travel, Roads

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

linear or multiple straight lines

woven

Parts (of compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

living, viviendo, live, vivir, distancia

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

huecanemi, to live far away or in secluded place, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huecanemi
hueca, far away, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/hueca
nemi, to live; or, to walk, go about, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nemi
nemini, a resident, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nemini

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Él Que Vive Lejos

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 488r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=55&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: