Nopal (MH809r)

Nopal (MH809r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Nopal (“Prickly Pear Cactus”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a three-part, prickly cactus (nopalli). This is an edible cactus, where the thorns are scraped off the panels (“pencas”in Spanish).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

It is somewhat surprising, perhaps, that the term nopalli does not appear much in this digital collection. Nochtli is much more common. It may be that the fruit was more appealing than the eating of the green panels (pencas). Or, the capital being Tenochtitlan may have been a more important factor.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Food, Eating, Cooking
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
tripartite
frontal view
Keywords: 

nopales, cactos, nombres de hombres

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

nopal(li), prickly pear cactus, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nopalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Nopal

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 809r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=692st=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: 
"r" for l
"s" for z
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Xoconochco (Mdz15v)

Tenochtitlan (Mdz2r)