Nahualix (MH488r)
This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Nahualix (“Enchanted Vision,” attested here as a man’s name) shows the early glyph for eye (ixtli), the one that also stands for a star. To the right and left of the heavy upper eyelid are bracketing, small, curving lines that may suggest movement, magic, or special ability, perhaps providing the visual for the shape-changing spirit (nahualli) dimension of the name.
Stephanie Wood
While the term nahualli is often represented by a shape that is reminiscent of a caterpillar (which, of course, transforms itself into a butterfly), this one has a focus on the eye. The concept behind this name may share something with the name Tlamao, which is also based on the eye and the special properties of vision, especially as related to "knowing" and wisdom. See below.
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.)
Stephanie Wood
gaspar navallis
Gaspar Nahualix
Stephanie Wood
1560
Xitlali Torres and Stephanie Wood
nahuales, ojos, visión mágica, visión encantada
nahual(li), spirit, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahualli.
ix(tli), eye, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ixtli.
La Visión del Nahual
Stephanie Wood
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 488r, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=207&st=image.
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).
