Nahual (MH509r)

Nahual (MH509r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Nahual (short for nahualli, a shape-shifting animal spirit that a person would acquire). The animal in this glyph resembles a worm or a caterpillar. It is seemingly tubular, with a curve to it. It is segmented, striped, and has some shading.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Another example of this conceptual glyph in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco also has what may be a worm with a war shield at the front of it.

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.)

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

diego
nahual

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
homophony, rebus
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Nahuales, Sorcery, Divining
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Hasket-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
shading and parallel line hatching
striped
Keywords: 

nahuales, idiomas, lenguaje

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

nahual(li), a shape-shifting spirit, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahualli
nahua(tl), speech, language, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahuatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Nahual

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 509r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=97&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: 

Nahual (MH497r)

nahualli (HJ276:79:pt1:24r)

Nahualix (MH488r)

Nahual (MH873r)

Nahual (MH879v)