Tlaocol (Verg45r)

This compound Nahuatl hieroglyph is a black-line drawing of the personal name Tlaocol (“Sad” or “Piteous”), attested here as a man’s name. The compound has three elements. The first is a frontal view of two front teeth (tlantli) with a bit of gum above them. This visual provides the phonetic syllable (Tla-) at the beginning of the name. Perhaps complementing the “a” vowel in that first syllable is the short stream of water (atl, or the phonetic syllable -a-) with its three droplets or beads splashing off as the water descends from the teeth. Finally, the third element is a rubber ball (olli) with a piece missing at the top. This provides the phonetic syllable -ol-, which occurs at the end of the name. The piece missing from the ball may intend to distinguish it from a black bean (which would be the phonetic syllable -e- and not helpful here). The -oc- in this name is not covered visually, although the tlacuilos could have used a drawing of pulque (octli), as they have elsewhere.