Mexicamani (MH871r)

Mexicamani (MH871r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name or ethnicity Mexicamani (perhaps “Like the Mexica”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows the head of a man in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. Someone’s (right) hand is pulling the hair of this person. His visible cheek is painted or tattooed with one vertical and two horizontal intersecting lines.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

In this digital collection, face paint or tattooing has ethnic associations, involving Chichimecs, the Otomí, the Tlaxcalteca, and those who were “different” (e.g. the Tlamaca or Tlamanca). Divine forces, such as Ecatl (or Ehecatl) and Xolotl, also have some face paint or tattoos. Our Advanced Search options include face paint as a cultural content item.

Hair pulling suggests conflict and loathing, and perhaps the warrior culture of the Mexica. A very similar glyph is used for the name (“Like the Otomí). To pull or cut someone's hair in Nahua culture was a grave insult and cause of intense emotion. Sonya Lipsett-Rivera writes about the ritual humiliation of hair pulling in Religion in New Spain, eds. Susan Schroeder and Stafford Poole (2007), 79. Hair pulling was also linked to the treatment of captives in war and enslaved people who were to be executed.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

p^o. mexica mani

Gloss Normalization:

Pedro Mexicamani

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

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Face Paint or Tattoos

Gender (male)

Hair (human or animal)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Race, Ethnicity, Identity, Othering

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

Keywords:

etnicidad, tirar el pelo, jalar el cabello, pintura facial, tatuajes, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Mexica, the people of Mexico City, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mexica
-mani, in the manner of, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mani-1

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

A la Manera de los Mexicas

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 871r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=814&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: