Tlachinol (MH503r)

Tlachinol (MH503r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Tlachinol (apparently short for "Atl Tlachinolli," "Flood and Conflagration," a metaphor for war or other types of apocalypse), attested here as a man's name, shows what seems to be a bird's eye view of a river, with three pairs of curving, double flames coming out of the lower side. On the high side, the water has small spurts coming off the top. The water also has some lines of current, suggesting movement.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The noun tlachinolli is often paired with atl (water) or teoatl (divine flood), in a diphrasis and metaphor for flood and burned land, or, in other words, disaster. It is unclear if this glyph includes water, but wide curve with little splashes off the side seems to suggest water. The flames come off the lower side of the curve. The metaphor and diphrasis are worth exploring further. Janice Lynn Robertson (2017, 189) suggests this diphrasis refers to "sacred warfare."

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

felipe
tlahchinol

Gloss Normalization:

Felipe Tlachinol

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories:

personal name

phonetic dimensions

Syntax:

diphrasis (visual)

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound fully phonographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke

Gender (male)

Metaphors, Proverbs, Riddles

Movement

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Plants, Flora

Religion (Indigenous)

War or Conflict

Water

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

curving, curvy, curved

diagonal or angled

dotted, granular, textured

bird's eye view

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

Keywords:

fires, fuegos, tierra quemada, tlachinolli, agua, inundación

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlachinol(li), conflagration, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlachinolli
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

James Lockhart (The Nahuas, 1992, 120) refers to the name Yaotlachinol, witnessed in a census from the Cuernavaca region (1535–45), calling it as "The Scorching of War."

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Guerra (Agua y Fuego)

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 503r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=83&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: