Opochtli (MH842r)

Opochtli (MH842r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Opochtli (perhaps “Left-Handed” and possibly a deity name) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows the lower half of a man’s body. It is the left (opochtli) side, shown in profile, facing the viewer’s left. At the site of his buttocks there is a large black dot, perhaps meant to bring attention to his rear end and the fact that he is a young man (telpochtli), as a phonetic complement to the name. Or perhaps it is a ball of rubber (olli), providing a near homophonic indication that this name starts with O-.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The phonetic phonetic possibilities of this name are just speculation. Perhaps there is another explanation; suggestions would be appreciated. There is another similar rendering of the name Opochtli in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco (MH826r).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

anto opochtli

Gloss Normalization: 

Antonio Opochtli

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: 
deity name/theonym
homophony, rebus
personal name
phonetic possibilities
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Rubber
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing left
profile view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
right to left
Keywords: 

mano izquierda, nalgas, jóven, hule, nombres de hombres

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

opoch(tli), left-handed, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/opochtli
ol(li), rubber, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/olli

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

In her unpublished essay (shared with me) reviewing the work of Berdan and Anawalt in deciphering place names in the Codex Mendoza, Frances Karttunen adds this in her notes: "There seems to be a morpheme in ichpo:ch- 'young woman' and telpo:ch- 'young man' that may also occur in the deity names o:po:ch- and hui:zilo:po:ch-. It forms its plural by reduplication: po:po:ch-; cf. telpo:po:chtin 'young men' rather than simply tel.po:chtin.”

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Zurdo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 842r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=758&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: 

Opochtli (MH826r)

olli (Mdz20r)

olli (Mdz70r)