Temamauhti (MH709r)

Temamauhti (MH709r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Temamauhti (“He Frightens People”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a profile view of the head of an animal looking toward the viewer’s right. It has long horns that are red closest to its head and white toward the tips, something like the coloring of flint knives (tecpatl or itztli). Its mouth is open, and its teeth are visible. It has a protruding, curling, red tongue in three parts. The fur at the base of the animal’s head is gray.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The gloss suggests that this is an animal (or perhaps supernatural) that frightens people. Glyphs for tetzauh (something that frightens people) come in a range of visual expressions, but at least one is animal-like with horns (see below). Another one has face paint or tattooing that makes it seem to be a person of an “other” ethnicity. See also Tetonehua, possibly “He Who Torments People,” shown with unusual protrusions on the head in the location where horns might have been.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
Keywords: 

asustar, alarmante, animales, nombres de hombres

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

temamauhti, something that frightens people, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/temamauhti
te-, (nonspecific human object prefix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/te

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Asusta a la Gente

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 709r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=496&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: