Ixacoatl (TK208r)

Ixacoatl (TK208r)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painted compound Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the personal name Ixacoatl (or Ixacohuatl). This is a local leader in the Tepetlaoztoc area of Tetzcoco. The compound has three elements, and the reading order is downward. It starts with the eye (ixtli) that has the iconography of early stars. Moving down, the next element is a spray of gray-blue water with two white droplets or beads and two white turbinate shells (not alternating, which is rare) coming off of each short streamlet. The water almost playfully forms the shape of a human figure, with the eye as its head and the shells taking the position of feet. This figure (of sorts) stands on a curled serpent whose head is in profile facing right. Its bifurcated tongue is protruding, and it has a rattle on its tail. Unfortunately, staining on the page covers the hieroglyph, affecting the colors.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The name awaits translation. Literally, it would be Eye-Water-Snake. All of these elements are very popular in other hieroglyphs, whether of personal or place names.

Side Note: The folio numbers are not always clear in the copy published online by the British Museum. Marc Thouvenot gives this page the number K06_A in his TLACHIA digital collection, https://tlachia.iib.unam.mx/tepetlaoztoc/K06_A.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

.Isacohuatl.

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Ixacoatl

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Tepetlaoztoc, Codex (aka Kingsborough) (TK)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1556

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Tepetlaoztoc, East of Lake Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
syllable: a/atl (from atl)
syllable: ix/is/iz/itz (from ixtli, itztli, or iztitl)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Animals: Snakes
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Tongue Protruding/Noticeable
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
gray
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bifurcated
facing right
profile view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
3
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

ojo, ojos, agua, gota, gotas, caracolillos, serpiente, serpientes, nombres de hombres

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

ix(tli), eye, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ixtli
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
coa(tl), snake or serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl

Image Source: 

The Codex Kingsborough, also known as the Códice de Tepetlaoztoc, and the Memorial de los indios de Tepetlaoztoc, is not on display. It was transferred from the British Library and is now held by the British Museum. It is shared on line at: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am2006-Drg-13964

Image Source, Rights: 

©The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. Please also cite the <em>Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphsem>, ed. Stephanie Wood (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities Projects, 2020-present) and this URL.

Orthography: 
"s" for x
intrusive "h" or "hu"
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Yohuallan (Mdz37r)

Atlix (MH541v)

Ce Coatl (MH519r)