Nenca (MH608r)

Nenca (MH608r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Nenca ("Idle" or "Unemployed") is attested here as a woman's name. It shows a human head in profile looking toward the viewer's right. The short hair might suggest that this is a man, but then the cheek has the double vertical lines of the phonetic syllable "hua," which could mean "cihuatl" (woman), in this case.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The context shows that this is a woman's name, and the tears suggest that she is a widow. Nencauh, a seeming variation on the name Nenca, refers to a servant, which could presumably be male or female. A "nencacihuatl" is found in the collection Vidas y Bienes Olvidados edited by Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Elsa Leticia Rea López, and Constantino Medina (1999), 242–243. In that example, it is a woman's name, and it specifies that the nenca was meant to be thought of as a female (at least in that case).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

maria neca

Gloss Normalization: 

María Nenca

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: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
hua (from huahuana, two vertical lines)
ne or nen syllable
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Emotions
Family, Kinship, even Friendship
Gender (female)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

widow, abandoned one, idle person, sad, sentimientos, triste, viuda, abandonada, mujer ociosa, floja

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

nenca, to be idle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nenca
necahual, abandoned one, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/necahual

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Mujer Ociosa

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 608r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=298st=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: 

Nenca (MH505r)

Nencihuatl (MH524v)

cahualli (Mdz13v)

Nentequitl (MH884r)