Huexotzincatl (Mdz42r)

Huexotzincatl (Mdz42r)

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the ethnic name Huexotzincatl doubles as the place name, Huexotzinco. The glyph includes two elements plus a man's head. Aside from the head, one element is a tree known as a white willow (huexotl). The other is a man's buttocks or bottom (tzintli) used here to provide the phonetic value for the locative suffix (-tzinco), place. The tree is a two-tone green. It has a leader and two side branches. The lowest element is a male (with a visible white waist band of a loincloth), the skin tone is a terracotta, and the lower half of the body is in a profile view with the man facing to the viewer's right. The head is attached to the glyph with a line. The head is in profile looking to the viewer's right. The man has a red (leather?) headband and short dark hair tucked behind his ear. A white, curving ornament (labret, according to Berdan and Anawalt) appears on his chin, perhaps coming out of his lip (not visible). [See Berdan and Anawalt, The Codex Mendoza, 1992, vol. 1, pl. 188.]

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The person's head could be considered not just iconographic, perhaps, but also part of the glyph, providing the -catl postposition (which says this person is affiliated with Huexotzinco). The hairstyle, headband, and lip ornament, appear to be iconographic ethnic identifiers. Guy Stresser-Péan (1995, 45) discusses a tezacanecuilli (or bezote, in Spanish) that curls and is warn by warriors of Huexotzinco. (See the full citation for his book in our Bibliography.)

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

huexotzincatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Huexotzincatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
Keywords: 

ethnicity, etnicidad

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

huexo(tl), white willow tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huexotl
tzin(tli), buttocks, bottom, rear end, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzintli
-tzinco (locative suffix), little, lower, or new, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzinco
-ca(tl), a person from or associated with, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/catl#

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

"Persona de Huexotzinco"

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 42 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 94 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).