Omitl (BMapO103)

Omitl (BMapO103)
Simplex Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Omitl (“Bone”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows what may be two (ome) downward-pointing spines. These objects have a remnant of turquoise blue paint on them. Perhaps they are meant to be bones (omitl), but they do not have a standard bone shape. So, the number two (ome) may be a phonetic indicator for the name that starts with Om-.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Further consultation is required for this record, but many bone signs have a sharp point at one end.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

This glyph is not glossed; the transliteration of the glyph comes from Gordon Whittaker’s contribution to the study by Mary E. Miller and Barbara E. Mundy (2012).

Source Manuscript: 
Beinecke Map (BMap)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City or the Valley of Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Numbers, Math
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Keywords: 

huesos, números, dos, nombres de hombres, hueso

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Comparisons: 
Museum/Rare Book/Realia Notes: 

These elite, eagle and jaguar bone tools have pointed tips for poking holes, often for use in drawing blood for making religious offerings. People of the tribute-paying class used maguey thorns for the same purpose. Photograph by Stephanie Wood, Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City, 15 February 2023.

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

omi(tl), a bone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/omitl
ome, two, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ome

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Hueso

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Beinecke Map/Codex Reese, section 8, no. 103 in the Whittaker study (published in the Miller/Mundy book, 2012), and see the original at: https://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3600017

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Omitetl (MH550v)

Xolomitl (MH639v)

Tlalomi (MH522r)

Tomixiuh (MH495v)