tetzotzonqui (MH594v)

tetzotzonqui (MH594v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the occupation of tetzotzonqui (mason) shows a hammer or hatchet hitting (tzotzona) a stone (tetl). The head of the hammer or hatchet is a stone caught between two branches on a stick. The stone has little chips out of it all around the perimeter, suggesting that it is being carved.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This occupational glyph is reminiscent of the glyph for the occupation of texinqui, stone carver.

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

tetzotzoqui

Gloss Normalization:

tetzotzonqui

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Syntax:

noun(s)

reduplication (in gloss/text)

verb

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Occupations

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

bifurcated

frontal view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

masons, albañiles, stones, rocks, piedras, tools, herramientas, hammers, martillos

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book Notes:

This twentieth-century Mexican stone mason is perhaps an heir to his sixteenth-century counterpart. This detail comes from a painting by Juan O’Gorman, “La Ciudad de México” (1949), in the history museum in Chapultepec Park. Not only was O’Gorman bringing attention to workers, but the feathered serpent at the top of the painting reveals his pride in Mexico’s Nahua heritage. Photo by S. Wood, 8 May 2025.

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

te(tl), stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl
tzotzona, to pound, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzotzona
-qui, one who does that thing, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/qui-1

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el cantero

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 594v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=268&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: