Mazatl (MH483v)

Mazatl (MH483v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black and white drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name, Mazatl ("Deer"), is attested here as a man's name. The deer is shown in profile, facing to the viewer's right. It has antlers, two points on each side of his head. Its eye is open, and there is a little texturing on its coat.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The mazatl is a day sign in the tonalpohualli, or 260-day calendar, and it is a common personal name, as a result. There were edicts about no longer giving children names from this pre-contact calendar, and that led to the dropping of the number that usually accompanied a day name, which would reduce the sacred nature of the name. See Norma Angélica Castilla Palma, "Las huellas del oficio y lo sagrado en los nombres nahuas de familias y barrios de Cholula," Dimensión Antropológica v. 65 (sept.-dic. 2015), 186.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

maçatl

Gloss Normalization: 

mazatl

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: 
calendrics
day name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
dotted, granular, textured
Keywords: 

calendars, calendarios, fechas, dates, tonalpohualli, días

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

mazatl, deer, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mazatl.

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el venado

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 483v, World Digital Library,  https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=46&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: