Mixcoatl (MH769v)

Mixcoatl (MH769v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Mixcoatl ("Cloud Serpent") is attested here as a man's name. One element is a cluster of four small clouds (mixtli). These clouds are coming up off the back of a lightly coiled serpent with a rattle, spots on its back, an open eye, and a protruding bifurcated tongue.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Mixcoatl is a very popular name in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco, much more so than, for instance, Quetzalcoatl. It is akin to Ehecatl (or Ecatl) in popularity, perhaps. A Cloud Serpent was a sacred, natural force, seemingly connected to the swirling clouds that could portend rain. The cloud serpents almost all have the coil in their bodies, adding this swirling dimension of movement. According to Sahagún, it was a divine force among the Chichimecs, and carried a powerful significance for the Nahuas. Some scholars have seen it as a divinity associated with hunting, others as part of a Tlaloc complex (of clouds, rain, lightning, etc.), and others as a symbol for a whirlwind (remolino). A famous altepetl, Mixcoac, is now a neighborhood of Mexico City.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

Juo miscovatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Mixcoatl (or Mixcohuatl)

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: 
deity name/theonym
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Celestial Phenomena
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Tongue Protruding/Noticeable
Weather, Climate
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
spotted or mottled
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
bifurcated
profile view
facing right
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

nubes, serpientes, nombres de hombres, nombre de deidad o fuerza divina

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

Mixcoatl, Chichimec deity, cloud serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mixcoatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Serpiente de las Nubes

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 769v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=613&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).

Orthography: 
"s" for x
"v" for u, uh, or hu
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Mixcoac (Mdz5v)

Mixcoatl (MH496r)