tlatoa (Osu2v)

This painted simplex Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the verb tlatoa and its extension, the noun tlatoani (literally, one who speaks, i.e., the ruler). It is a reference to the nature of the speech and the man who is speaking, Dr. Ceynos, a judge of the high court (Audiencia), a Spanish colonial overlord to whom Nahuas had to provide tribute in kind. A tlatoani (or tlahtoani, with the glottal stop) was normally a Nahua ruler, but the authority of the figure who appears in the contextualizing image has earned him this symbol for his speech. The hieroglyph is a simple speech scroll or volute that comes out horizontally from the man’s mouth. The tip of the volute nearest to the speaker is red and then it changes to blue, which runs through the curling part. Most such scrolls are blue if they are colored at all. The red tip–while found in this manuscript in many places–is rare, and its meaning is elusive. Suggestions are welcomed.