Itzcuauh (MH499v)

Itzcuauh (MH499v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Itzcuauh (perhaps meaning "Golden Eagle" is attested here as a man’s name) shows an upright obsidian blade (itztli) curving toward the right and, above that, an eagle's head in profile, looking toward the viewer's left. The eagle (cuauhtli) has tufts of feathers sticking up all around its head. Its beak may be open. If Itzcuauh is not short for itzcuauhtli, golden eagle, then another possibility could be a partially phonetic rendering of itzcuahuitl, the obsidian-bladed club, and in that case the eagle's head could be a phonetic indicator for wood (cuahuitl).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The man's name, Itzcuauh, was also held by one of Moctezuma's lords who played a vocal role during the Spanish invasion of the capital, and it was the name of an actual bird that, according to Clavijero (1844), not only hunted other "large birds and hares, but it also attacks wild beasts and men." The context image for this glyph shows that Martín Itzcuauh worked in textiles, for there is a spindle above his name.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

mīn
ytzguauh

Gloss Normalization: 

Martín Itzcuauh

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Misc.
Feathers
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Politics, Power, Governance
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Wood, wooden things
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
facing left
profile view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Keywords: 

feathers, plumas, nombres de hombres

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

itzcuahu(itl), an Indigenous weapon like the macuahuitl, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itzcuahuitl
itzcuauh(tli), golden eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itzcuauhtli
itz(tli), obsidian blade, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztli
cuauh(tli), eagle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhtli
Itzcuauhtzin, interim ruler of Tlatelolco at the time of the Spanish invasion, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itzcuauhtzin

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Obsidiana-Águila

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 499v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=78&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).

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Itzcuauh (MH626v)

Itzcuauh (MH771r)

Itzcuauhtzin (MH908r)