Tepetzinco (MH703r)

Tepetzinco (MH703r)
Simplex Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the place name Tepetzinco (perhaps “New Tepetlan”) shows a frontal view of a red, gray, black, and white three-dimensional hill with many divisions. It is also covered with what may be maguey plants, plus hatching and shading. One small animal appears in the lower right quadrant. Below the hill is a Christian church, an indication that this is a place name. The church has a tower, multiple windows, and an arching doorway that appears to be open, revealing a dark interior. The arch and the foundation of the church appear to be made with stone or adobe bricks.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

We know from the next page of the manuscript that this glyph refers to Tepetzinco, but this page does not have a gloss on it. Another glyph for Tepetzinco in this collection is very similar in style and colors.

Juan José Batalla points out how the curving arched doorway, sometimes called tecololli in Nahuatl (and notes how perhaps tolcalli would be more appropriate), is a European architectural introduction. See: "Análisis de elementos gráficos de contenido occidental en los glifos de los códices coloniales del Centro de México: el caso de los antropónimos nahuas," in El arte de escribir. El Centro de México: del Posclásico al siglo XVII, eds. Juan José Batalla Rosado and Miguel Ángel Ruz Barrio (Zinacantepec, Estado de México: El Colegio Mexiquense, A. C., 2018), 84.]

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Misc.

Architecture, Construction, Buildings

Landscape Features

Names (places)

Plants, Flora

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

curving, curvy, curved

shading and parallel line hatching

three-dimensionality

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

paisaje, plantas, animales, cerros, montañas, iglesias cristianas, ladrillos, nombres de lugares

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tepe(tl), hill or mountain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepetl
-tzin, diminutive indicator, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzin-1
-co, (locative suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/co

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Nuevo Tepetlan

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 703r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=484&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: