Tlacuatl (MH578v)

Tlacuatl (MH578v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tlacuatl (“Possum” or "Opossum," attested here as a man’s name) shows the animal in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. Its tail is long and curls up behind its body. Its front legs are raised up like arms. Its mouth appear to be open, but its eye may be closed.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The name of this animal has become tlacuache in contemporary Mexican Spanish. It is a fairly rare animal in Nahua glyphs. The squirrel and skunk are somewhat rare, too. The rabbit is abundant, probably partly because it was a day sign and a year sign of the calendar and it was eaten.

Although there is no hint of sexuality of fertility in this glyph, in Nahua culture the tlacuatl does have associations with sexuality and fertility. [See the MA art history thesis by Deniz Martinez, “Cross-cultural Currents and Syncretism in Early Modern Opossum Iconography,” Lindenwood University, 2022, 39; https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&c...

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

agustin tlacuatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Agustín Tlacuatl

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: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Mouth/Beak Open
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

animales, animales, zarigüeya, marsupial, xiuhpohualli, año

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

tlacua(tl), a possum, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacuatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Tlacuache

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 578v, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=236&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: 

Tlacuatl (MH629r)

Tlacuatl (MH631r)