Huecatlacatl (MH712v)

Huecatlacatl (MH712v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing (with some added green and red coloring) of the simplex glyph for the personal name Huecatlacatli is attested here as a man's name. The full interpretation of this glyph still requires some thought. It shows a man (tlacatl, person) in profile, facing toward the viewer’s left. This man has a load on his back, which is attached to him by way of a tumpline over his forehead. What seem to be red and green leaves poke out of the top of a container. The container has two sets of parallel, horizontal lines for decoration, or perhaps as reinforcements. The left arm of the man reaches back to hold onto the tumpilne at about shoulder height. This gear is usually what long-distance merchants used for carrying the goods to the capital. So, perhaps the suggestion is that this man comes from a distance (hueca).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Semantically, this glyph has something to do with a long-distance merchant (tlamama), who typically traveled on foot and carried a load in this way. The distance part is also expressed alphabetically, in the hueca element.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
Keywords: 

cargas, distancia, cargar, cargas, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

posiblemente, Persona Distante

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 712v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=503&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: