Teuhcatl (MH776v)

Teuhcatl (MH776v)
Compound 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 a horizontal stone (tetl), with its usual curly ends and diagonal division between a light-colored end and a dark-colored end. The stone provides a phonetic indication that the name starts with Te-. Surrounding the stone are dots that probably represent dust (teuhtli), which could be phonetic, but here they likely refer to the dust that is implied in the deity name. The -catl (affiliation suffix) is not shown visually.

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, in the book of tributes from Morelos, the Matrícula de Huexotzinco, and in records from Tetzcoco, all for macehuales. But 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 shown in some of the glyphs of that name, this name Teuhcatl seemingly has associations with beliefs relating to the importance of wind and swirling rain clouds and what the Western world calls dust devils. 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: 

diego teuhcatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Diego Teuhcatl

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
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Cleanliness, Orderliness, and their absence
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Weather, Climate
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
dotted, granular, textured
frontal view
segmented
striped
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
outward (from inside out)
Keywords: 

dioses, deidades, fuerzas divinas, nombres de hombres, nombres de deidades, viento, polvo

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, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/catl
te(tl), stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

(nombre de una fuerza divina chinampaneca)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 776v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=627&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 (MH485v)

Teuhcatl (MH506r)

Teuhcatl (MH508v)

Teuhcatl (MH560v)

Tlaltetecuin (MH662r)

Teuhcatl (MH797r)

Teuhcatl (MH876r)

Teuhca (MH895v)

Teuhcatl (MH901r)