Tehuehuel (Verg43v)

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Tehuehuel (perhaps “Little Shield”), attested here as a man’s name. The compound has three visual elements, starting with a horizontal stone (tetl), with the usual curling ends and curving diagonal lines across the middle. The stone provides the phonetic syllable (Te-) at the start of the name. Moving upward, a standing drum (huehuetl) comes next. This element provides the reduplicated -hue- in the middle of the name. It has the classic zigzag legs and a roundness to it. Finally, the third element, on the top, is apparently a liver (elli). It is curved at the bottom and has three parts standing up, the two outer parts seemingly facing inward toward the third. This element provides the phonetic syllable (-el) for the ending of the name.