Itzcoatl (MH643r)

Itzcoatl (MH643r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing for the compound glyph of the personal name Itzcoatl ("Obsidian Blade-Serpent," attested here as a man's name), shows a snake in profile, looking toward the viewer's right. Its eye is open and it bifurcated tongue protrudes. The serpent's body is coiled at the left end, and the rattler is not visible. Obsidian points (three on top and four on the bottom) are attached to the snake's body.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The man for whom this tribute payer was named was born in 1380, and served as the fourth ruler of Tenochtitlan. He governed from 1427 to 1440. During this time the Aztec Empire began to emerge and the Nahuas overcame the Tepanecs as the dominant rulers. It is interesting to see how long children were named after this famous leader (if the naming was that intentional; it could have an independent significance in and of itself).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

marcus yzcūvatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Marcos Itzcoatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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)
Writing Features: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Tongue Protruding/Noticeable
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bifurcated
facing right
profile view
spiky
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
inherent/internal/merged
Keywords: 

obsidiana, piedras, navajas, cuchillos, serpientes, culebras, víboras, serpents, snakes, knives, flints, nombres de hombres

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

Itzccoatl, a 14th-c. Mexica ruler, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/Itzcoatl
itz(tli), obsidian, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztli
coa(tl), snake or serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Serpiente de Obsidiana, o Navaja-Culebra

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 643r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=368&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).

Orthography: 
"u" for o
"y" for i
"z" for tz
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Itzcoatl (MH595r)

Itzcoatl (MH488v)

Itzcoatl (TR41v)

Itzcoatzin (Mdz5v)