Tlilacahua (MH674r)

Tlilacahua (MH674r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tlilacahua (perhaps “Tezcatlipoca,” “Jupiter,” or a “Practitioner of Black Magic”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a thick, black (tlilli), backwards S-shape with swirling ends and small hair-like lines coming off all edges of the shape.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Awaiting further examples of this glyph, few conclusions can be drawn. It is Nicolás Leon (Bibliografía mexicana del siglo XVIII, v. 3, p. 407, 1906) who identifies this name with a “black magic” worker, with Tezcatlipoca, and with Jupiter. Necromantics were also supposed to be able to communicate with the dead.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

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:

Celestial Phenomena

Color names

Death, decay, decomposition

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Religion (Indigenous)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

S-shapes (any direction)

Keywords:

fuerzas divinas, nombres de deidades, planetas, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlil(li), black, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlilli
Tlilacahua, perhaps a practitioner of “black magic,” associated with Tezcatlipoca and Jupiter, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlilacahua

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

posiblemente, Necromántico, Tezcatlipoca, o Júpiter

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 674r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=428&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:

"u" for hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: