tecuhtli (MH696r)

tecuhtli (MH696r)
Simplex Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This red, black, and white painting of the simplex glyph for the title tecuhtli (actually attested in the plural, teteuctin, lords) shows a red and white diadem in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. It is triangular from this view, it has a mesh pattern, a red border, and a tie at the back. The tlacuilo was making a tabulation of the number of lords in this community. The gloss includes Roman numerals (XV), but the notation is also visual, with a white crescent outlined in red and representing the number 15. Also included in this context is a gloss referring to the houses of the nobility (5), indicated both with the Roman numeral V and a horizontal row of five small circles filled in with red paint.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This style of notation is associated with Huexotzinco. The Chavero codex is also from Huexotzinco, and below is an example of a count of fifteen pesos that employs a similar crescent as appears here.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

teteuctin xv pipilcalli v

Gloss Normalization: 

teteuctin XV, pipilcalli V

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: 
numbers
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Numbers, Math
Social Hierarchy, Commoners, Elites
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
border pattern
checked, cross-hatched, or mesh
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
crescent
tied, bound, or bundled
triangular
Keywords: 

señores, nobles, diademas, casas reales, contar, números, creciente, demografía, jerarquía social

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

tecuh(tli), a lord, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecuhtli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

señores y casas de nobles

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 696r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=472&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: 

caxtolli pesos (Chav1)

tecuhtli (MH521v)

tecuhtli (MH508r)

tecuhtli (Mdz15v)

Tecuiton (MH638r)