Huitzilecatl (MH516r)

Huitzilecatl (MH516r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Huitzilecatl (here, attested as a man's name) has two prominent elements. On the right is a hummingbird (huitzilin) in profile, facing the viewer's right. On the left is the diagnostic beak from representations of the divine force of the wind (Ehecatl). The bird's wings are raised and its long beak is pointing downward. One foot is raised. If it were not for the gloss, the beak of Ehecatl could be difficult to decipher, but one can make of the squared-off protrusion and the downward curving upper beak beneath the protrusion.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Gabrielle Vail and ‎Christine Hernández (Re-Creating Primordial Time, 2013, ) describe Ehecatl as the wind aspect of Quetzalcoatl, and they note that Ehecatl "wears a buccal (duck) mask through which to blow wind." That the "beak" may have been perceived as a blowing device is supported by the glyph for Pitztli (below).

A great many glyphs in this collection start with Eca- when one might expect Eheca-. We are preserving the proclivity of the gloss for Eca-, while also pointing to the likelihood of an unintentional oral abbreviation of Eheca- to Eca-.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

pe^o huitzillecatl

Gloss Normalization:

Pedro Huitzilecatl (o Huitzilehecatl)

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)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Religion (Indigenous)

Weather, Climate

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

pointed (see also spiky)

profile view

facing right

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

right to left

Keywords:

birds, pájaros, deidades, deities, wind, viento, colibríes, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

huitzil(in), hummingbird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzilin
eca(tl), air, breath, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ecatl
eheca(tl), wind-divine force, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ehecatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

El Colibrí y La Deidad del Viento

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 516r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=111&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: