Tlamamal (Verg33v)

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Tlamamal (perhaps “He Drilled Something” or “A Burden”) is attested as a man’s name. The compound shows two hands presumably rotating a vertical stick as was done to drill fire on a horizontal log. To drill is mamali, and the drilling ceremony for new fire is mamalhuaztli. Two front teeth appear below the drilling action, providing the phonetic tla- syllable that is the start to the name. Molina’s example of mamali does allow for a tla- at the start, so the thrust of the name can still refer to drilling. But tlamamalli also refers to a burden one might carry.