Huitzitl (MH638r)

Huitzitl (MH638r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Huitzitl ("Hummingbird") is attested here as a man's name. The glyph shows a long pointed thorn (huitztli, a near homophone) or the beak of a hummingbird protruding from a man's chin. The actual tax payer's head has been given the added detail, not an extra head drawn just for creating glyph.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Huitzitl, like huitzilin, means hummingbird. Perhaps the beak intentionally resembles a thorn (huitztli) as a way of providing some phonetic assurance that this person's name is huitztli. But this glyph is open to further interpretations.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

uitzitl

Gloss Normalization: 

Huitzitl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Keywords: 

birds, pájaros, colibrí, colibríes, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

posiblemente, 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=358&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: