Teuhcatl (MH508v)
This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Teuhcatl includes what may be a half of a stone (tetl), which serves as a phonetic complement. The diagnostic curling features of the stone are much clearer on the left end. Coming out of the stone all around are curving lines, conjuring up perhaps a pinwheel or whirlwind, but probably meant to convey a dust (teuhtli) storm.
Stephanie Wood
In Sarah Cline's Book of Tributes (1993) from Morelos, this is a name taken by Nahua men. A blog post study of the 1544 Nahuatl census of Morelos by Magnus Pharao Hansen suggests a translation of "Dust Person" for the name Teuhcatl. The visual certainly would support this interpretation. And the -catl suggests "person" with a certain association or affiliation.
However, there is more to the name. The Handbook of Middle American Indians: Anthology of Northern Mesoamerica (1971, 426) states that this was one of several Chinampaneca deities. According to the Gran Diccionario Náhuatl, Teuhcatl is a divinity akin to Mixcoatl. The Codex Chimalpopoca refers to the ixiptlatl of a deity, 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 associated with the glyphs of that name, this name Teuhcatl seemingly has associations with beliefs relating to the importance of wind and swirling rain clouds.
Stephanie Wood
Juan
teuhcatl
Juan Teuhcatl
Stephanie Wood
1560
Jeff Haskett-Wood
dust, polvo
teuh(tli), dust, filth, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teuhtli
Teuhcatl, a deity name and a personal name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teuhcatl
te(tl), stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl
-ca(tl), affiliation or association with, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/catl
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 508v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=96&st=image
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).