Ihuitl Temoc (MH622r)

Ihuitl Temoc (MH622r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for a personal name, Ihuitl Temoc, shows a frontal view of a descending feather [ihuitl in a top-down position and a bird's eye view of two footprints, also descending. The latter, especially, suggests the verb temo, to descend (and in the past tense, with the -c at the end). [Note: Orozco y Berra (1880, v. 1, ch. 5) discusses some of the various uses of footprints, including temo and tleco. Zelia Nuttall (1888; 2008, p. 47) also mentioned the "multitude of meanings" of "footsteps." See our Bibliography for citations to these works.]

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

There was a famous don Diego Luis Moctezuma Ihuitl Temoc (aka Ihuitemotzin). Perhaps this Mateo is named for don Diego or another illustrious person who shared this name.

Footprints are used as polyvalent hieroglyphs. As shown below, they can stand for temo, xo, quetza, or pano. Several of these are verbs, which suggests that feet help visually represent movement over--and an imprint upon--the landscape.

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:

noun(s)

verb

preterit tense

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Feathers

Footprint(s), human

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

bird's eye view

frontal view

vertical, upright

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

plumas, huellas, bajar, verbos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

ihui(tl), feather, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ihuitl
temo, to descend, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/temo

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

La Pluma Bajó

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 622r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=326st=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: