Tlamahuizol (MH832v)

Tlamahuizol (MH832v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tlamahuizol ("Miracle") is attested here as a man's name. The glyph shows a left hand in profile, a cuff from a shirt or jacket visible at the wrist, and the index finger pointing toward the viewer's right, but at an angle.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The pointing finger is often shown in a Nahua pictorial manuscript in a scene where someone who has a voice (e.g., a tlatoani, ruler) is gesturing. Here, however, the glyph has a religious reading that seems influenced by the introduction of Christianity. The garment that is barely visible is not a typical one for Nahuas, except for those who were adopting European dress.

Perhaps this hand comes from Western ideas about the "hand of God." Wikipedia writes: "The hand, sometimes including a portion of an arm, or ending about the wrist, is used to indicate the intervention in or approval of affairs on Earth by God."

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

juā tlamahuitzol

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Tlamahuizol

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
possessive pronoun
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Body postures
Emotions
Gender (male)
Gestures with hands
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous Christianity)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

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

nombres de hombres

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons: 
Museum/Rare Book Notes: 

Here is a "hand of god" detail from a twelfth-century mural in Catalonia, published in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_God_%28art%29

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

mai(tl), hand, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl
tlamahuizol(li), miracle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlamahuizolli
mahuiz(tli), fear, respect, something that deserves respect, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mahuiztli
tla, indefinite nonpersonal obj, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tla

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 832v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=739&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).

Orthography: 
"tz" for z
Historical Contextualizing Image: