Tlaco (MH516r)

Tlaco (MH516r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for the personal name Tlaco (here, attested as a man's) shows a U-shaped hoop and a horizontal stick (tlacotl) that would be put around the neck of an enslaved person (tlacotli). The man in question could be an enslaved person. Perhaps more likely, this is a middle child, "Tlaco."

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

John Frederick Schwaller explains (The Church in Colonial Latin America, 2000, 88) how Tiacapan was often the name of the oldest child, Tlaco the name of the middle child, and Xoco the youngest. While Tlaco is more commonly known for girls, Alonso Zamora suggests "Middle Brother" for a reading of this glyph in his blog Tlacuilolli. The stick that is part of the restraint that was put around the neck of an enslaved person can be a tlacotl, the slave a tlacotli, and the half-circle of the throat constrictor could be seen as (tlaco) (half, which is close to the meaning of middle). So, the glyph is at least partly phonographic.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

duo .tlaco

Gloss Normalization: 

Diego Tlaco

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: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as phonogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Birth order
Family, Kinship, even Friendship
Labor Issues
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Slavery
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Wood, wooden things
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood and Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bent
curving, curvy, curved
horizontal
frontal view
U-shapes (any direction)
Keywords: 

esclavitud, slavery, esclavo, persona esclavizada, niño del medio

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

tlaco(tli) an enslaved person, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacotli
tlaco(tl), stick, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacotl
tlaco, half, middle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlaco

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Esclavo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 516r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=111&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: 

Tlaco (MH576v)

cuauhcozcatl (Mdz66r)

Huatzal (MH518v)

Tlaco (MH641r)