Tollan (MH658v)

Tollan (MH658v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph of the personal name (or perhaps place of origin) Tollan (“Near the Tules”) shows a tule plant (tolin) is vertical, with a central shaft and three tall, slender leaves. Near the top of the shaft is what appears to be a cattail. The locative suffix, -tlan (near), is not shown visually.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Tollan is a place name. Usually, when a place is part of a personal name it has an added suffix, such as -tecatl or -catl, saying that this is a person affiliated with the place. With this place name, the result would be Toltecatl (in the singular, and Tolteca in the plural). In effect, the affiliation suffix converts the place name into an ethnicity, given that affiliation with an altepetl was a crucial identity in the minds of Nahuas. So, Tollan is an unusual personal name. It is also a place name associated with Nahua ancestry.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

diego tollā

Gloss Normalization: 

Diego Tollan

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: 
locative (not visual)
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as phonogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

plants, tules, altepetl, orígenes, ancestros, topónimos, nombres de hombres, etnicidades

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

tol(in), tule plant, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tolin-1
-tlan (locative suffix), by, near, among, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Cerca de los Tules

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 658v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=397&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: 

Tollan (Mdz8r)

tolin (Mdz8r)