Techin (Verg14v)

Techin (Verg14v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Techin (perhaps “Stone Enclosure” or "Stony Chinamitl," attested here as a man’s name) shows a frontal view of a small, vertical stone (tetl) with the typically curling ends and stripes across the middle. Above that appears to be a cob of corn (cintli or centli) and two flames arising behind the maize, perhaps alluding to a burned (tlachinolli) cornfield (chinamitl). If not flames, then perhaps the two vertical elements behind the corn cob are plant stalks.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The compound glyph has more than the necessary elements, and perhaps some of them are imagined in the visual analysis above. If not, then there is some phonetic syllepsis. Meanwhile, the translation is tentative.

The other example of Techin from the Matrícula de Huexotzinco included in this collection so far (May 2023) seems to have more of a chinamitl. The potential semantic reading of corn cob is supported by Cen Icuic example from the Codex Vergara (folio 17 verso), below. In turn, the Cen Icuic from 10 recto of that manuscript clarifies the reading of the corn cob on 17v.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

po.techin

Gloss Normalization: 

Pedro Techin

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Vergara, Codex (Verg)
Date of Manuscript: 

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

near Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Agriculture, Gardens, Stockraising
Corn, Maize
Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke
Food, Eating, Cooking
Gender (male)
Land Parcels, Use, Issues
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Plants, Flora
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
oval (see also leaf shaped)
frontal view
spiky
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
striped
vertical, upright
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
3
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Keywords: 

fuego, flamas, elote, xilotl, cintli, centli, piedras, incendios, maíz, milpa

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

te(tl), stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl-0
chin(amitl), a reed or cane fence or enclosure, https://nahuatl.wired-
techinami(tl), a stone fence or wall, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/techinamitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Muro de Piedra, o Sementera Pedregosa (?)

Image Source: 

Codex Vergara, folio 14v, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f36.item.zoom

Image Source, Rights: 

The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/.

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Tequicen (MH537v)

Techin (Verg7r)

tletl (Mglb71r)

Cen Icuic (Verg17v)

Cen Icuic (Verg10r)