Tocatl (MH629r)

Tocatl (MH629r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tocatl ("Spider") is attested here as a man's name. The spider has horizontal black and white stripes. This is a bird's eye view. The head is upward, and the four visible legs are extended forward and backward. It seems to have two round eyes and a pointed mouth. The body is egg-shaped.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This supposed spider looks more like a beetle, and so it is a challenge to identify. Perhaps it is a pinahuiztli. See Eleanor Wake's study of this beetle in Mexicolore. It also appears in Book 11, folio 94 recto, in the Digital Florentine Codex.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

franco,
tocatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Francisco Tocatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
bird's eye view
facing upward
Keywords: 

arañas, bichos, spider, bug, bugs, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

toca(tl), a spider or bug, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tocatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Araña (o Bicho)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 628v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=340&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).

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Xaltocan (Mdz17v)

Yacapichtlan (Mdz24v)