Teuhca (MH895v)

Teuhca (MH895v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Teuhcatl (the name of a divine force) is attested here as a man's name. The glyph includes a frontal view of half of a vertical stone (tetl), with its typical curly ends and diagonal division between a light-colored end and a dark-colored end. The fact that it is just a half stone may point to tequi (a near homophone, which means to cut). But the stone clearly provides a phonetic indication that the name starts with Te-. The -catl (affiliation suffix) is not shown visually. In some glyphs, dust particles help clarify the name beyond the Te- start.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Teuhcatl is not an unusual name for a tribute payer, although it has sacred origins (see the record in our Online Nahuatl Dictionary). The name appears, for example, many times in this Matrícula de Huexotzinco, in the book of tributes from Morelos, and in records from Tetzcoco, all as a name for macehuales. But the Codex Chimalpopoca refers to the ixiptlatl of a divine force, Teuhcatl, who was dressed like Mixcoatl, and the Mexica were fooled by it. This is quoted in Molly Bassett's, The Fate of Earthly Things (2015), 162. Given the association with the divinity Mixcoatl, and the image of swirling serpent-like clouds that appear in the glyphs of that name, this name Teuhcatl seemingly has connections with beliefs relating to the importance of wind and swirling rain clouds. Further underlining the spiritual significance of Teuhcatl, Bierhorst notes that the Codex Chimalpopoca associated this divine force with the Christian "devil" (see Bierhorst 2011, 123).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

aol. teuhca

Gloss Normalization: 

Alonzo Teuhca

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
deity name/theonym
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as phonogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Dirt, Sand, Soil
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
striped
Keywords: 

piedras, polvo, viento, fuerzas divinas, religión indígena, nombres de deidades, nombres de hombres

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

Teuhcatl, both the name of a divine force and a personal name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teuhcatl
teuh(tli), dust, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teuhtli
ca(tl) (affiliation suffix), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/catl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

(nombre de una deidad entre los Chinampaneca)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 895v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=863&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: 
See Also: 

Teuhcatl (MH776v)