Pochilama (MH837r)

Pochilama (MH837r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Pochilama (perhaps “Gray-Haired Elder Woman” or “Spongy-Pale Elder Woman”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows the head of an aged woman in profile, facing the viewer’s right. She has long hair down the back of her neck, and she has curving, horizontal lines on her visible cheek.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This is one of many names held by men that have a female-gendered component (such as elder woman, ilama, as seen here). One of the Advanced Search features under Cultural Content is the option to search “Names (men’s but with female dimension.” Western assumptions about older women should be tempered with their Nahua associations with such things as the divine force of the wind (Ehecatl or Ecatl) and with eagles (cuauhtli), which had, in turn, associations with warriors.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

di^o. pochilama

Gloss Normalization:

Diego Pochilama

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)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Aging (People, Animals, Things)

Anatomy, human body parts

Gender (female)

Gender (male)

Hair (human or animal)

Names (men's, but w/ female dimension)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

wrinkles

Keywords:

viejas, canosas, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cuapochtic, gray-haired, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuapochictic
pochictic, spongy and pale, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pochictic
ilama, an elder woman, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ilama

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Vieja Canosa

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 837r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=748&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: