Techcatecatl (MH695v)

Techcatecatl (MH695v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name or ethnicity, Techcatecatl (“Person from Techcatlan”), is attested here as pertaining to a man. The glyph shows a frontal view of a thin horizontal stone, presumably a base for what rises above it, a vertical trapezoidal stone. Judging from the gloss, this is a sacrificial stone (techcatl), and it represents the town name that is behind this name of origin.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

A sacrificial stone is a rarity in this collection, probably owing to the colonial context, where the style of early pre-contact human sacrifice was no longer allowed and the whole subject became taboo. However, animal sacrifice presumably continued to some degree.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

simō techcatecatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Simón Techcatecatl

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)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Gifts, Offerings, Sacrifice
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

barrio, pueblos, origen, etnicidades, nombres de hombres, piedras de sacrificio

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

techca(tl), sacrificial stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/techcatl
-teca(tl) (affiliation suffix for town names ending in -tlan or -lan), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Persona de Techcatlan

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 695v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=471&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: 

tlacamictia (TR38v)