Iztacxochitl (MH886r)

Iztacxochitl (MH886r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Iztacxochitl (“White Flower”) is attested here as a woman’s name. The glyph shows a frontal view of a large four-petal flower with the points of leaves appearing between each petal. The center is a circle, and the result is largely a quincunx shape.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The Anales de Tlatelolco related that Tezozomoc had a wife named Iztacxochitl, so perhaps this was a famous name still given to girls born in the sixteenth century. Another Iztacxochitl appears in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco on f. 796r (see below). Women's names in this collection are rare compared to men's because married women and daughters are represented by the male head of household, the person responsible for most tribute payments. Notice how women's names often have a flower component (-xoch-), more often than men's. Xochitl glyphs come in many different shapes. Below are a couple that match the shape of this one. Earlier flowers, from the Codex Mendoza, also appear below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

maria Iztacxochitl

Gloss Normalization:

María Iztacxochitl

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

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Color names

Flowers

Gender (female)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

frontal view

quincunx or quatrefoil

Keywords:

flores, nombres de colores, blanco, nombres famosos, nombres de mujeres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

iztac, white, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/iztac
xoch(itl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Flor Blanca

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 886r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=844&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: