Mayan (MH674v)

Mayan (MH674v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Mayan (perhaps “He Was Hungry”) is attested here as a man’s name. It shows a hand (maitl), which serves as a phonetic indicator that the name starts with Ma-, holding a piece of fruit or some other type of food. The object has some hatch marks toward the top that suggest a three-dimensionality. This makes it appear to be a piece of fruit more than a tortilla. But it is anyone's guess.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The gloss here simply says Maya, but the visual suggests the verb mayana, to be hungry, which would be truncated as Mayan. Since the letter “n” often drops away or intrudes inadvertently, it is easy to imagine that this name should be Mayan. This is an unusual name, but we do have an example of the iconography of a famine, mayanalo.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
phrase or sentence
verb
preterit tense
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Food, Eating, Cooking
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
shading and parallel line hatching
three-dimensionality
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
right to left
Keywords: 

tener hambre, persona hambrienta, nombres de hombres

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

ma(itl), hand, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl
mayana, to be hungry, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mayana

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Tuvo Hambre

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 674v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=429&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: 

mayanalo (TR32r)

Quizacuahua (MH722r)

Mayan (MH724v)