Opoch (MH572r)

Opoch (MH572r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Opoch (“Left Hand,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a frontal view of a raised human hand with part of an arm and some fabric at the bottom of the partial arm. The gloss clarifies that this is a left hand.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

One of the deities of water, one of the tlatoqueh, was Opochtli, "The Left." Also, the divine force or deity of war, Huitzilopochtli, includes the element of "left" in the name, too. So, there may have been a consciousness of left-handedness among the Nahuas. Left-handedness was relatively common among Maya scribes according to the epigrapher Stephen Houston (public lecture, 23 April 2023, National Gallery of Art), so perhaps it was also recognized in that region, too.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

pedro opoch

Gloss Normalization: 

Pedro Opoch

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

left, izquierda, hand, mano

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

Opochtli, a deity name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/opochtli
opoch(tli), left hand, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/opochtli-0

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Izquierda

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 572v, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=224&st=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: 

Opoch (MH631r)

Opoch (MH640v)