nemapopohualoni (CST20)

nemapopohualoni (CST20)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This painting of the simplex glyph for the term nemapopohualoni (cloth napkin) shows a long, horizontal tablecloth with small squares (apparently napkins) on it, perhaps at the locations where people would sit, with five on one side and one on the other. The tablecloth has a gray border, and the lone napkin on one side has a gray line going around it. Was this an effort to add shading/three-dimensionality?

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The context refers to six yards of manteles (Spanish for tablecloths) and six nemapopohualoni worth a total of 13 pesos. The purpose of the purchase is not clarified. Perhaps it was for the building where the town council met (here called an audiencia, a Spanish loanword). It has the look of a European-influenced table. For more on the Codex Sierra, see Kevin Terraciano’s study (2021), esp. pp. 30, 113, and 149.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Sierra/Texupan, Codex (CST)
Date of Manuscript: 

1550–1564

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
rectangular
frontal view
horizontal
Other Cultural Influences: 
Mixtec
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

servilletas, toallas, telas, manteles, mesas

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

nemapopohualoni, cloth napkin or hand towel, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nemapopohualoni

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

servilleta

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Códice Sierra-Texupan, plate 20, page dated 1558. Origin: Santa Catalina Texupan, Mixteca Alta, State of Oaxaca. Kevin Terraciano has published an outstanding study of this manuscript (Codex Sierra, 2021), and in his book he refers to alphabetic and “pictorial” writing, not hieroglyphic writing. We are still counting some of the imagery from this source as hieroglyphic writing, but we are also including examples of “iconography” where the images verge on European style illustrations or scenes showing activities. We have this iconography category so that such images can be fruitfully compared with hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphic writing was evolving as a result of the influence of European illustrations, and even alphabetic writing impacted it.
https://bidilaf.buap.mx/objeto.xql?id=48281&busqueda=Texupan&action=search

Image Source, Rights: 

The Biblioteca Digital Lafragua of the Biblioteca Histórica José María Lafragua in Puebla, Mexico, publishes this Códice Sierra-Texupan, 1550–1564 (62pp., 30.7 x 21.8 cm.), referring to it as being in the “Public Domain.” This image is published here under a Creative Commons license, asking that you cite the Biblioteca Digital Lafragua and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs.

Orthography: 
"u" for hu
Historical Contextualizing Image: