Tlilpotonqui (MH518r)
This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name, title, or label, Tlilpotonqui (“Stinky-Sticky Black Feather Ritual Device,” attested here as a man’s name), features two, parallel, upright objects, both heavily colored black (tlilli). They may have some kind of wooden base and be covered with a sticky and apparently stinky(potonqui) substance (rubber?) and then black feathers.
Stephanie Wood
Tlilpotonqui has multiple possible translations. It could refer to a child born outside of marriage. It was also a priestly name that some say refers to black dust or a black stinky substance, apparently involving an adornment (perhaps a staff) that was glued with black feathers. See below for other examples. The name was held by some illustrious figures, including Quetzalcoatl and Miguel Tlilpotonqui, son of Tlacaelel and grandson of Huitzilihuitl. See the Online Nahuatl Dictionary for more information.
Magnus Pharao Hansen wrote this when trying to translate Tlilpotonqui (which he found in the Morelos census of 1544): "'he stinks black'?". [See his blog at: http://nahuatlstudies.blogspot.com/2014/11/nahuatl-names-nahuatl-names-i... That translation could work literally, but the ritual dimension seems important for clarifying that the reference is probably not to bodily odor.
See also the Yauhpotonqui glyph, below. This suggests a possible connection to incense offerings.
Stephanie Wood
antonio tlilpotonq~
Antonio Tlilpotonqui
Stephanie Wood
1560
Jeff Haskett-Wood
black, negro, plumas, rituales, regalia
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Tlilpotonqui_MH518r_CmpndPersName.png?itok=xc63AHJY)
tlilpotonqui, a personal name, a title, a priest who wore a feather adornment, or a rare bean, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlilpotonqui
tlil(li), black color, soot, ink,, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlilli
potonqui, dusty or stinky, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/potonqui
potoni, dust, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/potonqui
(objeto ritual de plumas negras apestosas)
Manuel Orozco y Berra, Historia antigua y de la conquista de México (1960, 403).
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 518r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=115&st=image
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).
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/Tlilpotonqui_MH518r_Context.png)