Huitznahuacatl (MH755v)

Huitznahuacatl (MH755v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-and-white painting of the simplex glyph for the name or ethnicity, Huitznahuacatl (“Person from Huitznahuac”), is attested here as pertaining to a man. The glyph here would double for the glyph of the place name, Huitznahuac (“Near the Thorns”). It consists of a frontal view of two triangular horns, point side down, black on the lower half (the points) and white on the upper ends. More commonly, tlacuilos painted such thorns with the points upward, as shown below. The dark tips may intend to suggest that they are bloody because of their use in bloodletting.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

There is a “Huisnahuac” near Tetzcoco (Texcoco, today). Huitznahuac is the name of one of the seven groups (calpulli) that emerged from Chicomoztoc (the “Seven Caves”) in the legendary migration that would lead to the founding of Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

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:

personal name

Syntax:

line connecting elements

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Blood (human/animal/plant)

Gender (male)

Gifts, Offerings, Sacrifice

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Plants, Flora

Race, Ethnicity, Identity

Religion (Indigenous)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

pointed (see also spiky)

triangular

Keywords:

espinas, sangre, flebotomía, ofrendas, autosacrificio, pueblos, etnicidades, nombres de hombres, nombres de lugares

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

huitz(tli), spine or thorn, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitztli
-nahuac, near or next to, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahuac
nahua(tl), a pleasant sound or the Nahuatl language, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahuatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Persona de Huitznahuac

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 755v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=589&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: