Tlacochin (MH498v)

Tlacochin (MH498v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tlacochin (here, attested as a man's name) shows two projectiles (perhaps arrows, spears or javelins, tlacochtli), crossed in the form of an X. Perhaps this structure points to an enclosure (tlacochinamitl), reinforcing the phonetics of tlacochin and leading the reader away from a reading of mitl (arrow). These spears have segmentation that suggests they are made from some type of cane, such as bamboo or carrizo. With one spear on top of the other, the effect is somewhat three-dimensional.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The absence of fletching is unusual here. However, the omission of a carved point is not so unusual in tlacochtli (or tlacochin) glyphs, and this is even true sometimes of other arrows or darts. One wonders whether the spear or javelin without the point was a staff that was held by the Tlacochcalcatl. It may be relevant to explore possible connections between the names Tlacoch/Tlachoin and the title of the high judge or general, the Tlacochcalcatl.

A man named Tlacochintzin (with the reverential suffix) was a principal merchant in the time of Moquiuixtzin in Tlatelolco (central Mexico, sixteenth century).
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 9 -- The Merchants, No. 14, Part 10, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1959), 2.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

Juan
tlacochin

Gloss Normalization:

Juan Tlacochin

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

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Plants, Flora

War or Conflict

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

Keywords:

arrows, spears, javelins, flechas, lanzas, jabalinas, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlacoch(tli), a projectile, such as a spear or javelin, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacochtli
tlacochinami(tl), an enclosure, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacochinamitl
Tlacochin, famous person's name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacochin

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

posiblemente, Flecha o Lanza

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 498v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=76&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: