Ixtlamati (MH624r)

Vision and knowledge have a close relationship. The name Ixtlamati seems to derive from the verb tlamati (also spelled tlamahti, with the glottal stop, “to know something” or to "practice trickery or sorcery." However, the added translation of sorcery and trickery reveals a Christian bias on the part of the friar Alonso de Molina. At the root of tlamati is the verb mati, to know. He explains how iximati can become imati, to manage cleverly or create skillfully; and this compares to mati (to know). Imati involves knowing through seeing, much like conocer might indicate in Spanish, and mati is "to know" as in saber in Spanish. In both the verbs starting ix- or i-, the sign for eye is a semantic indicator for a place of wisdom. According to Thouvenot, imati (which is related to ixtlamati) connects to an empirical knowledge gained through experience by witnessing things with one's eyes, and mati makes reference to an internal, abstract being that has the capacity to think. [See his article: "Imágenes y escritura entre los Nahuas del inicio del XVI," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 41 (2010), esp. pp 178–181. My rough translation to English.]

This glyph for the verb Ixtlamati is nearly identical to one that is glossed Tlamauh (see below). This underscores the relationship between the puzzling Tlamao/Tlamauh glyphs and the meaning of ixtlamati or tlamati, as opposed to tlamauhtli. Of course, the European assessment of trickery with tlamauh is not terribly far from the European association between tlamauhtli and "crazed." In all cases, the reader must keep in mind filters and biases.