Tecpa (MH486v)

Tecpa (MH486v)
Simplex Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tecpa (here, attested as male) shows an upright flint knife (tecpatl) in a frontal view. It has a diagonal line, leaning left, and cutting across the knife at about the middle. Sometimes the knife is half red (bloodied?) and half white. The convention is for the top half to be red.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The flint knife was both a day sign and a year sign in the calendars, which testifies to its religious significance. Here, as a personal name, it would have been drawn from the tonalpohualli (day count). Originally, a name such as this would have had a companion number from 1 to 13. But these numbers were dropping away out of some natural evolution (simplification? diminishing memory of the formula? or as a response to presure from clergy who were trying to suppress the use of the tonalpohualli). Here, the sign it is very basic, but sometimes it is decorated and even anthropomorphized. The word for obsidian blade (itztli) overlaps with the tecpatl.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image: 
Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription: 

gaspar tecpa

Gloss/Text Normalization: 

Gaspar Tecpa

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huexotzinco

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
fading tradition, or an effort to disguise?
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Religion (Indigenous)
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
diagonal or angled
frontal view
leaf, marquise, pointed oval
pointed (see also spiky)
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

knives, cuchillos, navajas, calendars, calendarios, xiuhpohualli, año, turquesa, xihuitl

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

tecpa(tl), flint knife, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Pedernal

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 486r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=52&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: 

tecpatl (MH486v)

tecpatl (Mdz8r)

itztli (Mdz42r)

Tecpaxoch (MH632r)