Nahual (MH497r)

Nahual (MH497r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Nahual (short for nahualli), which is attested here as a man's name (or perhaps a state of being), includes two elements that would produce the one idea. These elements are a war shield (yaotl), which seemingly serves as a head for possibly a worm (ocuilin), caterpillar, or cocoon (temictli). The latter is seemingly tubular and segmented This segmentation is also reminiscent of the rattle (coacuechtli) of a rattlesnake (coatl) (see examples, below).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Another example of this conceptual glyph in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco also has what may be a worm or a rattle, but it lacks the shield. Perhaps the shield in this particular glyph was made at first and then was transformed into the worm (or whatever the visual is), as the artist might have thought his name was Yaotl, but then decided it was Nahual.

Nahuales were perceived as "form-changing shamans" (in the words of James Maffie, 2013, 39), sometimes taking on the attributes or abilities of animals, such as a jaguar, and becoming that creature as a "temporary incarnation of cosmic reality" (Maffie, 40, citing Raymond Fogelson). The term nahualli can refer to the shamanic power of transformation or it can refer to the being into which the shaman transforms, such as an animal, according to James Maffie (Aztec Philosophy, 2014, 38.)

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

diego
naual

Gloss Normalization: 

Diego Nahual

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Nahuales, Sorcery, Divining
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
pointed (see also spiky)
curving, curvy, curved
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
profile view
facing left
Keywords: 

nahuales, nombres de hombres, transformación

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

nahual(li), animal spirit, shape-shifter, transforming figure, personal animal spirit, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahualli
temic(tli), dream, caterpillar, or cocoon, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/temictli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Nahual

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 497r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=73&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: 
"u" for hu
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Nahual (MH509r)

nahualli (HJ276:79:pt1:24r)

Nahualix (MH488r)

ocuilin (Mdz10v)

Itzcoatl (TR29r)

coatl (Mdz42r)

Nahual (MH873r)

Nahual (MH879v)