Temocihui (MH555v)

Temocihui (MH555v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Temocihui (“Importune Person,” attested here as a man’s name) shows several elements that connect closely to the face of the tribute payer, including three speech scrolls, two footprints, a perhaps a jaw with three teeth.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The speech scrolls are likely a semantic indicator for the name "Temocihui," which refers to an importune person, someone who says things that are improper or upsetting to others. The footprints apparently serve as a phonetic indicator for the first part of the name, Temo-, from the verb to descend, even though the footprints go upward. If the third element is a jaw with teeth, this could be a phonetic complement for the syllable "ten," from tentli, lip or jaw.

Footprint glyphs have a wide range of translations. In this collection, so far, we can attest to yauh, xo, pano, -pan, paina, temo, nemi, quetza, otli, iyaquic hualiloti, huallauh, tepal, tetepotztoca, totoco, otlatoca, -tihui, and the vowel "o." Other research (Herrera et al, 2005, 64) points to additional terms, including: choloa, tlaloa, totoyoa, eco, aci, quiza, maxalihui, centlacxitl, and xocpalli.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
verb
visible movement
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Corn, Maize
Footprint(s), human
Gender (male)
Movement
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Scrolls (Speech, Song, etc.)
Speech, Speaking, Oral Tradition
Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
volute(s)
bird's eye view
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
3
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
right to left
Keywords: 

walking, andando, bajando, going down, lip, labio, edge, borde, speak, hablar, volutas

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

temocihui, an importune person, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/temocihui
temo, to go down, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/temo
ten(tli), lip, edge, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tentli
cin(tli), dried maize kernels still on the cob, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cintli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Persona Importuna

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 555v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=190&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: