Quetzalayatl (MH513r)

Quetzalayatl (MH513r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Quetzalayatl (here, attested as a man's name) shows a frontal view of a rectangle cloth (ayatl) with knots in the upper right and left corners. The gathering of the fabric in the corners provides a three-dimensionality, and three-dimenstionality may have been learned from early colonial instructors. Coming up from behind the cloth are three, slightly curvy, feathers. From the gloss we learn that these are quetzalli feathers.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The various cloaks, blankets, and cloths in this collection can be tracked and compared. A few are provided below.

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

a^ol guetzalayatl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Alonso Quetzalayatl

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

three-dimensionality

tied, bound, or bundled

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

birds, feathers, pájaros, plumas, telas, fabrics, cloths, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

quetzal(li), quetzal feathers, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quetzalli
aya(tl), a thin cloak or blanket of cotton, maguey, or henequen fiber, loosely woven, and sometimes net-like, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ayatl

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 513r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=105&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: