Tlemaitl (BMapN89)

Tlemaitl (BMapN89)
Simplex Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tlemaitl (“Handheld Censer”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a (right) hand holding the long handle of a nearly vertical clay censer. The bowl, at the top, contains a black substance. Three curls of smoke arise from the bowl. They are painted gray.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See additional examples of clay censers and fire carriers, below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

This glyph is not glossed; the transliteration of the glyph comes from Gordon Whittaker’s contribution to the study by Mary E. Miller and Barbara E. Mundy (2012).

Source Manuscript:

Beinecke Map (BMap)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City or the Valley of Mexico

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black

gray

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

volute(s)

Keywords:

incensarios, manos, badires, fuego, humo, nombres de hombres

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Notes:

This hand-held, polichrome incense burner features an eagle claw. It was one of 29 offerings of such pieces under the patio floor in front of the Templo Mayor. Photograph by Stephanie Wood, Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City, 15 February 2023.

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlema(itl), a handheld clay censer or fire carrier, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlemaitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Incensario de Mano

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Beinecke Map/Codex Reese, section 8, no. 89 in the Whittaker study (published in the Miller/Mundy book, 2012), and see the original at: https://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3600017

Image Source, Rights:

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).

Historical Contextualizing Image: