Tlapalmazatl (MH895r)

Tlapalmazatl (MH895r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tlapalmazatl (“Red Deer”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows the head of a deer (mazatl) in profile, facing the viewer’s right. The deer’s coat is mottled, and he has a rack with four points on the left and on the right. The color of the deer is not shown, only mentioned in the gloss (tlapalli, red).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Mazatl is a common name, given that it was a day name in the religious divinatory calendar, the tonalpohualli. But this is the first example of a red deer, with about 6500 records in the database already (March 2025), and it is not a calendrical name. The examples of mazatl in the Codex Mendoza have turquoise-blue antlers, perhaps suggesting preciosity. Deer heads with antlers were sometimes danced.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

balthasal tlapalmaçatl

Gloss Normalization:

Baltazar Tlapalmazatl

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)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Misc.

Color names

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

Keywords:

venado, color rojo, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlapal(li), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlapalli
maza(tl), deer, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mazatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Venado Rojo

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 895r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=862&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:

Historical Contextualizing Image: