Mexicatl (MH873v)

Mexicatl (MH873v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name or ethnicity Mexicatl (“Person from Mexico City”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows the head of a man in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. He has lines on his face that may be face paint or tattoos. In front of his mouth appears to be a set of teeth, but that is just a guess. Sets of teeth usually provide the phonetic locative syllable -tlan (by, near). If this added element affect the reading, it could have a phonetic possibility and result in this being a compound hieroglyph.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This is an interesting perspective from the Puebla area, looking upon people from the capital city. Typically, people of other ethnicities have facial ornamentation and/or face paint to distinguish them. Sometimes their hair is different.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

po. mexicatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Pedro Mexicatl

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
phonetic possibilities
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Face Paint or Tattoos
Gender (male)
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: 

capitalinos, mexicas, etnicidades, nombres de hombres

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

mexica(tl), someone from Mexico Tenochtitlan, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/Mexicatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Persona de la Ciudad de México

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 873v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=819&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: 

Mexi (MH569r)

Mexi (MH665v)

Mexicatl (MH595r)

Mexi (MH500v)

Mexica (Osu8r)

Mexico (CST18)