Huitzitl (MH811r)

Huitzitl (MH811r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Huitzitl (“Hummingbird”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows the head of a hummingbird in profile, facing the viewer’s right. Its long beak is pointing slightly upward. Below the bird’s head is a black and white rectangular object that may be itztli (an obsidian blade). If so, it is a phonetic complement and near homophone to the latter part of the name (-itzitl).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Some examples of itztli, below, show how it can be black and white, something like this one.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
homophony, rebus
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
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): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
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
itz(tli), obsidian blade, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Colibrí

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 811r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=696&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: 
See Also: 

Huitzitl (MH638r)

Huitzitl Popoca (MH627r)

Huitzilihuitl (Mdz3v)

Huitzilihuitl (MH487v)

itztli (Mdz16r)

Itzcotecatl (MH500r)

Itzehecatl (MH666v)