Marina (LTlaxUT2a)

This iconographic example is included here for possible comparisons with Nahuatl hieroglyphs. It features Marina, the interpreter who worked alongside Cortés in the expedition across Mexico and through the struggle to seize and wield power in Tenochtitlan. This scene is from Tlaxcallan in 1519. She is interpreting the conversation between Cortés and Xicotencatl, who would become allies in the attacks on the Mexica. Marina was baptized with that name by the Spaniards, but the Nahuas, who had difficulty with the “r” in her name, which was not in their alphabet, called her Malintzin, adding the reverential suffix (-tzin). The name Malintzin would be difficult, in turn, for Spaniards to say, so they then Hispanized Malintzin, changing it to Malinche. Here she is wearing fine handwoven textiles: the blouse (huipilli) has a red mesh design with trim at the bottom and on her shoulders in red and white that features X-shapes with small arrows pointing toward the center of the X-shapes. A rectangle of fabric reinforces the V-neck. A skirt (cueitl) that is barely visible below the huipilli has both a large red and white design and a black and white horizontal check. Her shoes are red or pink. Her hair is wavy and long, falling over one shoulder and probably down her back.