Popoyotl (MH736r)

Popoyotl (MH736r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name or situation, Popoyotl (“Smutty Maize” or “Blind”), is attested here as pertaining to a man. It shows an ear of corn without any husk or silk. The kernels are visible. The point is downward.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The translation of “smutty maize” comes from Arthur Anderson and Charles Dibble’s translation of the Florentine Codex. It is very unclear whether the few extra black ink marks on the glyph might represent fungus, but it seems unlikely. Wikimedia has an image of a corn cob with huitlacoche fungus.

Because popoyotl (blind, or corn fungus) has two very different translations, it is unclear whether this glyph is a phonetic rendering and the reading should really be "Blind."

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic possibilities
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Corn, Maize
Food, Eating, Cooking
Gender (male)
Health, Medicine
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
segmented
Keywords: 

maíz, huitlacoche, comida, nombres de hombres

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

popoyo(tl), smutty maize or blind, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/popoyotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Maíz con Huitlacoche

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 736r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=550&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: 

popoyotl (MH546v)

popoyotl (MH608r)