Tlalpican (MH730r)

Tlalpican (MH730r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the place name Tlalpican (perhaps meaning “Where Cloths are Tied”) shows a frontal view of a building which provides a semantic indicator for the locative suffix (-can). Inside the building is a tied cloth (perhaps a tlalpilli). The cloth has a loop at the top, a big knot, and the two hanging pieces, much like a loincloth. It is also shown in a frontal view.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See some loincloths, below, which serve as comparisons. There is a place called Tlalpilcan in the Nomenclatura geográfica de México, saying it was part of the ancient Chalca nation. [See the PDF on the Internet Archive.] It must come from tlalpilli. However, the spelling "Tlalpica[n]" seems to come from the root verb, ilpia, or really the more indefinite tlalpilia, "to tie something." The spelling Tlalpica does occur as a barrio of Huejotzingo in a study by Ursula Dyckerhoff, "Grupos étnicos y estratificación socio-política,” Indiana 19/20 (2002/2003), p. 166.
This place name is not about tlalli, land, despite the start to the name, Tlal-. Launey translates the verb tlalpia as "to put on a belt." The root of tlalpia, which is ilpia, can refer to tying up people. This would give the place name a completely different meaning and make the tied thing a phonetic indicator. (See our Online Nahuatl Dictionary entry for tlalpia.)

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

locative (not visual, but represented semantically)

verb

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Names (places)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Keywords:

taparrabos, textiles, nudos, atar, nombres de lugares

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlalpia, to tie something or put on a belt, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlalpia
ilpia, to tie or tie up, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ilpia
tlalpil(li), something tied, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlalpilli
-can (locative suffix), where, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/can-2

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

posiblemente, Donde Se Hacen Nudos (o Taparrabos?)

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 730r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=538&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: