Tecpanecatl (MH506r)

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tecpanecatl ("Person Associated with the Tecpan, or Palace") is attested here as a man's name. Alternately, it could be an occupation, title, or ethnicity. The tecpan was a palace of a lord (tecuhtli). The name's ending, -ecatl, suggests that the person had an affiliation with a tecpan or tecpancalli. The shape here involves a triangle, point down, held up by what appear to be two posts. This creates something like the shape of an M. At the bottom of the triangle is a mysterious ball with fringe. As Marc Thouvenot graciously suggests (personal communication, 30 September 2024), this construction may well be a cuauhtecpantli, a wooden device that may have had a protective function, like a railing. The tepozcuauhtecpantli, which was a colonial innovation involving metal, was an iron grille or balcony railing. If this is a cuauhtecpantli, then it serves as a phonetic indicator for the start of the name or title, Tecpan-.