icuilolli (MH551r)

icuilolli (MH551r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing that we have duplicated to stand as the "element" icuilolli (a painting) is shared with the compound glyph and personal name Tlalicuilol ("Land Painting"). This element is also seen simply as cuilolli.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Marc Thouvenot identifies the verb icuiloa (or ihcuiloa, with the glottal stop), which means to paint, write, or print, as having a root of -cuil-. He notes how it also appears in tlacuiloliztli (writing), tlacuilo (writer), and cuicuiltic (mottled). He goes on to show various uses of icuiloa that take it beyond the simple definitions just given, resulting in something like the action of creating a design (e.g., on leather, ceramics, sculpture, or in textiles). It can also be something like the action of decorating (e.g., to put a flower on a cup of atole). He associates icuiloa and tlacuilolli with "cultural artifacts," such as arts and crafts or examples of writing and painting, but cuicuiltic with effects created by "nature." This short summary barely does his article justice; it is worth reading the entire piece. How Thouvenot's study might connect with the concept of bent or curved mentioned by Prem (1974: 555, 682) raises an interesting question. Perhaps the bent or curved lines of writing, painting, carving, embroidery, and so on, fall with in the realm of expressions of -cuil-. See
Marc Thouvenot, "Imágenes y escritura entre los nahuas del inicio del XVI," Estudios de Cultural Náhuatl 41 (2010).

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Keywords: 

escribir, pintar, escritura, pintura, writing, painting, manuscript, codex, códice, manuscrito, títulos, tierras

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

(i)cuilol(li), a piece of writing, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/icuilolli

Image Source: 
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).