Huitzitl (MH638r)

Huitzitl (MH638r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Huitzitl ("Thorn," or "Hummingbird," attested here as a man's name) shows a long pointed thorn (or perhaps the beak of a hummingbird) protruding from a man's chin. The man is the one who has this name, not an extra head drawn just for the glyph.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The word for thorn is unually huitztli, not huitzitl. The latter is also close to huitzilin, the word for hummingbird, which results in some difficulty translating the name. The image does appear to be more of a thorn than a hummingbird. See below for some compound personal names that involve thorns.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

uitzitl

Gloss Normalization: 

Huitzitl

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
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
pointed (see also spiky)
Keywords: 

birds, pájaros, colibrí, colibríes, nombres de hombres

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

huitzi(tl), hummingbird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzitl
huitzil(in), hummingbird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzilin
huitz(tli), thorn, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Espina o Colibrí

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 638r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=358st=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: 
See Also: 

Huitzitl Popoca (MH627r)

Huitznahuatl (MH515r)

Huitztecatl (MH615v)

huitzilin (CQ)