Teuhton (MH665r)

Teuhton (MH665r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Teuhtontli (“Dust”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a swirling cloud of volutes and dots that suggest dust (teuhtontli). The diminutive in this name is built into the word, given that dust is like fine bits of stone or dirt.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

A person named Teuhtli, another way of saying "Dust," also appears in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco. Dust certainly makes whirlwinds (and their movement) more visible, and whirlwinds and whirlpools have the swirling motion that caught the Nahuas' attention. (See James Maffie's analysis of "motion-change" in his book Aztec Philosophy, 2014). Perhaps the name Teuhtli, "Dust," was related to the divine force known as "Teuhcatl." The Handbook of Middle American Indians: Anthology of Northern Mesoamerica (1971, 426) states that Teuhcatl was one of several Chinampaneca deities. According to the Gran Diccionario Náhuatl, this is a divinity close to Mixcoatl (Cloud Serpent). See also Molly Bassett, The Fate of Earthly Things (2015), 162.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Scrolls (Speech, Song, etc.)
Speech, Speaking, Oral Tradition
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
diminutive (visual)
dotted, granular, textured
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
volute(s)
Keywords: 

polvo, volutas, nombres de deidades, nombres de hombres

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

teuhton(tli), dust, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teuhtontli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

posiblemente, Polvillo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 665r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=410&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: 

Teuhton (MH527r)