Itzcoatl (MH663r)

Itzcoatl (MH663r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Itzcoatl (“Obsidian Blade-Serpent”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a semi-coiled snake (coatl) with spotted skin, a rattler tail, and a protruding bifurcated tongue. Its head is in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. Coming off the body are about eight black triangular obsidian blades (itztli).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Born in 1380, the fourth ruler of Tenochtitlan, who had this name, governed from 1427 to 1440, during which time the Aztec Empire began to emerge and the Nahuas overcame the Tepanecs as the dominant rulers. The chronicler Chimalpahin refers to him several times. See other examples of the name Itzcoatl (or, in the reverential, Itzcoatzin), below.

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)
Writing Features: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
spiky
curving, curvy, curved
bifurcated
profile view
facing right
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, cohuatl, nombres de hombres

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

Itzcoatl, fourteenth ruler of the Mexica, a person's name (attested male), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itzcoatl
itz(tli), obsidian blade, 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 Navajas de Obsidiana

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 663r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=406&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: 
"y" for i
intrusive "u"
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Itzcoatl (MH810r)

Itzcoatzin (Mdz5v)

Itzcoatl (TR29r)