Opoch (MH640v)

Opoch (MH640v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Opoch ("The Left," or perhaps "Lefty," attested here as a man's name) shows a left hand holding a black (probably rubber) ball.

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: 

opoch

Gloss Normalization: 

Opoch

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
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Rubber
Toys
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
vertical, upright
circle, circular or rounded
profile view
facing right
Keywords: 

left, izquierda, hand, mano, rubber, nombres de hombres

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

opoch(tli), on the left, or left-handed, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/opochtli-0

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 640v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=363&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 (MH572r)

Opoch (MH631r)