Huitzilatl (MH634r)

Huitzilatl (MH634r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Huitzilatl (perhaps "Hummingbird-Spring") is attested here as a man's name. It shows a hummingbird (huitzilin) in profile, apparently flying toward the viewer's right. A stream of water (atl) shoots out from the bird's chest, at an angle, down and to the right. The stream of water has little splashes coming off the top and bottom. A thick, black line down the middle of the stream possibly suggesting current or movement, but it is also reminiscent of a piece of itztli (obsidian), and if so, it can make a phonetic contribution.

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:

vitzilatl

Gloss Normalization:

Huitzilatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories:

personal name

phonetic possibilities

Syntax:

noun(s)

visual movement

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

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:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

diagonal or angled

facing right

profile view

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, nombres famosos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

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 634r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=350&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).

Orthography:

"v" for u, uh, or hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: