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 Special Powers”) 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. Note the European filter being used in the expression "black magic."

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:

S-shapes (any direction)

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

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: