Teuhchimal (Verg41r)

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Teuhchimal (“Dust Shield”), which is attested here as a man’s name. Three elements are part of this compound. The key element is a war shield, once again one with a happy or smiling face, which is a notable feature of the Vergara Codex. Above the war shield, on the left, is a horizontal stone (tetl) with curling ends and a vertical stripe across the middle. The stone provides the phonetic syllable -te-, which is the start to the name. To the right of the stone appear swirling dust (teuhtli) particles, a semantic indicator. Below the stone and dust is the round war shield with two concentric circles. Apparently, long wing feathers hang down from the lower third of the outer circle. Perhaps shorter feathers decorate the upper two-thirds of the outer circle. The inner circle contains a smiling face. The eyes are European in style, and eyebrows appear above them. The nose is just a short horizontal line, The mouth is large and curved upward into a smile. Teeth are visible.