Huitzilatl (MH523r)

Huitzilatl (MH523r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Huitzilatl ("Hummingbird-Spring") is attested here as a man's name. The glyph shows a hummingbird (huitzilin) in a semi-frontal view but with its head in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. Its wings are raised. Coming off the bottom of the bird are four streams of water (atl) with internal lines of current and a droplet (or bead) at the end of each of the four short streams.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The person who bears this name seems to have been named after an illustrious autonomous-era person, the grandson of Huitzilihuitl, ruler of Tenochtitlan, called Huitzillatzin (or Huitzilatzin). It is also worth noting that Huitzilatl was the name of a special spring where water was obtained for bathing captive slaves nine days before they were to be sacrificed to the deities. This spring was between Coyoacan and Huitzilopochco. (See the Online Nahuatl Dictionary.)

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

matheo huitzilatl

Gloss Normalization:

Mateo Huitzilatl

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:

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Feathers

Gender (male)

Gifts, Offerings, Sacrifice

Movement

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Politics, Power, Governance

Religion (Indigenous)

Water

Cultural Content, Credit:

Daniel Chayet

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

bird's eye view

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

facing right

pointed (see also spiky)

profile view

spiky

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

birds, pájaros, colibríes, hummingbirds, water, agua, natural springs, ojos de agua, agua, sacrificio humano, bañar a cautivos o esclavos, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Huitzillatzin, grandson of Huitzilihuitl, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzillatzin
Huitzilatl, a special spring and source of water relating to human sacrifice, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzilatl
huitzil(in), hummingbird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzilin
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Colibrí-Agua

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 523r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=125&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: