Tetzauh (MH795r)

Tetzauh (MH795r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tetzauh ("Omen" or "Something Frightening") is attested here as a man's name. The glyph is built onto the head of the tax payer in the census. To his face have been aded criss-crossing lines, perhaps face paint.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Glyphs for tetzauh vary widely, as the examples below will show. One glyph appears to be a devil image. Others are more abstract. This is something to track with more examples to see if there are patterns in the variants. Two compound glyphs have a fully phonetic rendering of tetzauh, with a stone and a spindle. These are both from the Matrícula de Huexotzinco, from folios 647 verso and 651 recto.

The face paint could be a type of "othering," meant here to suggest that he is frightening, but further research is required. In other cases, face paint has also been suggested to serve as a "hua" syllable, and here it might be for the final syllable of tezahua.

In this digital collection, face paint or tattooing has ethnic associations, involving Chichimecs, the Otomí, the Tlaxcalteca, and those who were “different” (e.g. the Tlamaca). Divine forces, such as Ecatl (or Ehecatl) and Xolotl, also have some face paint or tattoos.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

miguer tetzauh

Gloss Normalization: 

Miguel Tetzauh

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Face Paint or Tattoos
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Race, Ethnicity, Identity, Othering
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
checked, cross-hatched, or mesh
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

nombres de hombres, aguero, algo espantoso, cara pintada

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

tetzahui(tl), a frightening thing, an omen, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetzahuitl
te(tl), stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl-0
tzahua, to spin, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzahua
tzauhqui, a spinner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzauhqui
tzahualiz(tli), the act of spinning (such as yarn or thread), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzahualiztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Presagio

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 795r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=664&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).

Orthography: 
"r" for l
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Otomitl (Mdz3v)

otomitl (MH553r)

Chichimecamani (MH490r)

Tetzauh (MH592r)

Tetzauh (MH627v)

Tetzauh (MH647v)

Tetzauh (MH831v)

Tetzauh (MH733r)