Icnocihuatl (Verg9r)

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name or status of Icnocihuatl (“Widow,” attested here as a woman’s name) shows the head of a woman (cihuatl) in profile, looking toward the viewer's right. She has tears on her cheeks (drawn more in a European style than the tears found in early manuscripts). These tears are a semantic indicator that the woman is a widow (icnocihuatl) and therefore sad or humble (icno-, a built-in adjective here). The remaining four elements of this compound typically stand for phonetic syllables. From right to left, these are: lips (tentli), teeth (tlantli), a maize cob (cintli or centli), and finally an arrow (mitl). Of these, the syllable -ci- of cintli could provide the phonetic start to cihuatl. Perhaps the widow has a name that is represented by this group of syllables.