Oztomecatl (MH487v)

Oztomecatl (MH487v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name, ethnicity, and occupation, Oztomecatl (a unique type of merchant, attested here as pertaining to a man) shows two stones in a horizontal row. They have curling ends and black and white stripes. Apparently, these represent a cave (oztotl). The gloss also adds "-mecatl" which points to a cord, but a cord is not visible.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The Oztomeca were known as merchants who kept secrets and hid things. [See Samuel Salinas Álvarez, Historia de los caminos de Mexico, t. 1 (1994), 88.] The contextualizing image shows that this person was used carrying frames as a part of his long-distance trade. The carrying frame does include a cord (a tump line), but this is a coincidence and apparently not part of the name glyph.

This Nahua name-ethnicity-occupation is preceded in the gloss by a Christian first name (Toribio). He may have been named after Toribio de Benavente, also known as Motolinia ("One Who is Poor or Afflicted"). This was the first word he learned in Nahuatl, and he went on to learn the language well. He lived in the monastery in Huejotzingo. Doing a quick search for the name "Toribio" will produce an impressive result.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

thoribio oztomecatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Toribio Oztomecatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Landscape Features
Markets, Commerce, Economy
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Occupations
Religion (Christian)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
striped
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

ozto(tl), cave, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/oztotl
meca(tl), cord, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mecatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Cueva-Cordón, o Útero y ombligo(?)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 487v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=53&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).

Orthography: 
"th" for t, d, or gd
Historical Contextualizing Image: