Tehuehuel (MH606v)

Tehuehuel (MH606v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph of the personal name Tehuehuel shows a circle (representing a small shield, tehuehuelli) with a stone (tetl) inside it. The stone, with its classic curling ends and diagonal stripes, is a phonetic indicator that this name starts with Te-.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The way tehuehuelli is used in early manuscripts not only recalls the diphrasism for war (being paired with tlacochtli), but seems to refer to a fetus and the struggle of childbirth. If the latter is coming into play, perhaps the circle could resemble a womb, and the stone inside could resemble a fetus. The techimalli (below) might also be considered in this light.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

pedro tevevel

Gloss Normalization: 

Pedro Tehuehuel

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
Keywords: 

circles, círculos, escudos, rodelas, redondo, piedras

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

tehuehuel(li), a small shield; possibly a metaphor for a fetus or the strength necessary for birth, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tehuehuelli
te(tl), stone or rock, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl-0

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 606v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=295st=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: