Tlalatl (MH489r)
This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Tlalatl ("Mud," here attested as a man's name) consists of two major components. One is a group of dots that convey the idea of soil or dirt (tlalli). Below that are swirling and then cascading spurts of water (atl). A drop appears at the tip of the three spurts of water. The swirl is reminiscent of a whirlpool.
Stephanie Wood
This is a personal name, preceded in the gloss by a Christian first name (Toribio). He may have been named after Toribio de Benavente, also known as Motolinia ("One Who is Poor or Afflicted"). This was the first word he learned in Nahuatl, and he went on to learn the language well. He lived in the monastery in Huejotzingo. Doing a quick search for the name "Toribio" will produce an impressive result.
The potential significance of the swirling water is brought home by the name glyph for Tetzauh (omen), which seems to suggest that whirlpools (and perhaps whirlwinds, and the like) create a vortex that connects life on earth with a spiritual realm. See below.
Stephanie Wood
toribio tlallatl
Toribio Tlalatl
Stephanie Wood
1560
Stephanie Wood
water, agua, dirt, land, tierra, mud, lodo
tlala(tl), mud, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlalatl
tlal(li), land, dirt, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlalli
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
El Lodo
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 489r, World Digital Library. https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=57&st=image
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).
