ichcatl (CST33)
This painting of the simplex glyph for the term ichcatl (here, perhaps unspun wool) shows a bundle of this substance, which is attached to a carrying frame. The substance of the is barely discernible inside the load (which would be called tlamamalli in Nahuatl). If this was carried from afar (such as Morelos) by a tlamama (again, likely the term that would refer to one who carries loads over distances), it would make sense to show it attached to a carrying frame.
Stephanie Wood
The companion text explains that this was purchased for the town for the celebration of the feast day of Santa Catalina and other feast days. The cost was 35 pesos, a significant sum. For more on the Codex Sierra, see Kevin Terraciano’s study (2021), especially p. 120 (for the Nahuatl transcription) and 155 (for the English translation). Terraciano seems confident that this is a purchase of cotton, but this page also mentions a ram and the next page speaks of a sheep ranch (actually using the word ichcatl, which means sheep, in that case).
Stephanie Wood
1550–1564
Jeff Haskett-Wood
algodón, lana, textiles, compras, fiestas, religión, iglesia, tamemes, tlamamalli
ichca(tl), unspun cotton or wool, or a sheep, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ichcatl
algodón o lana
Stephanie Wood
Códice Sierra-Texupan, plate 33, page dated 1560. Origin: Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, State of Oaxaca. Kevin Terraciano has published an outstanding study of this manuscript (Codex Sierra, 2021), and in his book he refers to alphabetic and “pictorial” writing, not hieroglyphic writing. We are still counting some of the imagery from this source as hieroglyphic writing, but we are also including examples of “iconography” where the images verge on European style illustrations or scenes showing activities. We have this iconography category so that such images can be fruitfully compared with hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphic writing was evolving as a result of the influence of European illustrations, and even alphabetic writing impacted it.
https://bidilaf.buap.mx/objeto.xql?id=48281&busqueda=Texupan&action=search
The Biblioteca Digital Lafragua of the Biblioteca Histórica José María Lafragua in Puebla, Mexico, publishes this Códice Sierra-Texupan, 1550–1564 (62pp., 30.7 x 21.8 cm.), referring to it as being in the “Public Domain.” This image is published here under a Creative Commons license, asking that you cite the Biblioteca Digital Lafragua and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.
