Tezcapoc (MH500r)

Tezcapoc (MH500r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Tezcapoc ("The Mirror Smoked," attested here as a man’s name) shows a mirror (tezcatl) surrounded by smoke (poctli). The mirror is circular, with a black center (probably polished obsidian) and a white ring around that. The smoke is painted in a light gray. It does not have the usual curling volutes; it is thinner and less well defined.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This name recalls the divine force or deity name Tezcatlipoca, seemingly pointing to the mirror as a portal to a spiritual world. There was also a phenomenon of a mirror that was used for divining, as supported in the dictionary term, nahualtezcatl.

Having an association with the highest leadership and approved by the divine force called Tezcatlipoca (“The Mirror’s Smoke”) underlines the sacred value of mirrors. See Aztecs/Azteken, an exhibition catalogue, eds. Doris Kurella, Martin Berger and Inés de Castro, at the Linden Museum, Stuttgart; published by Hirmer Publishers of Germany and INAH of Mexico (2019, 309).

One can imagine the obsidian mirror as a tool for starting a fire. A mirror could be an adornment on clothing. It could be a practical or a spiritual way of looking at one's face. In this collection, one will notice that profile views are much favored over frontal views of faces. Perhaps frontal views were perceived to be too direct or too powerful for normal purposes. Looking at rulers, such as Motecuhzoma, in the face was something controlled, too, possibly because of his perceived divinity. Frontal views of faces are often found on glyphs such as teotl (divinity), tonatiuh (sun), tonalli (sun/day), deity sculptures (e.g., nenetl), skulls, and an occasional animal (e.g., especially the tecolotl, or owl, which may have been perceived to have special powers, given that the tlacatecolotl was a supernatural being). Specifically "face" (xayacatl) glyphs are sometimes given in a frontal view, too.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

Juan
tezcapoc

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Tezcapoc

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
Keywords: 

mirrors, espejos, smoke, humo

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Espejo-Humo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 500r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=79&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: