Tlamauh (MH522r)

Tlamah (or Tlamao, as it is often spelled) is a powerful name and a popular one. The style of this eye is also called the starry eye or stellar eye, given how it can double as a star in the sky. This connection with celestial phenomena may relate to the meaning of the personal name. From other examples we also see a connection with Ehecatl. The name seems to derive from tlahmati, supposedly to "practice trickery or sorcery" (very close to tlamati, to know something). However, the translation of sorcery and trickery reveals a Christian bias on the part of the friar Alonso de Molina, and really the Nahuas saw the Tlamao as being wise, perhaps like a priest or a tlamatini. Supporting this, the use of the eye (ixtli) for the glyph calls forth the verb ixtlamati, to be wise, prudent. Furthermore, Marc Thouvenot (2010, 178–181) explains how iximati (which can become imati, to manage cleverly or create skillfully) compares to mati (to know). Imati involves knowing through seeing, much like conocer might indicate in Spanish, and mati is "to know" as in saber in Spanish. Once again, then, the eye glyph is a semantic indicator for a place of wisdom.