tonalli (MH554v)

tonalli (MH554v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the tonalli (day, sun, solar personal animating force) element of the compound personal name Tonal has a quincunx shape, something like a flower with four petals and small circles in each petal and in the center.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Tonalli also a type of energy collected inside a person's head. James Maffie (personal communication, 2022) suggested the exploration of the relationship between tonalli and ilhuitl. Marc Thouvenot (2019, 86) suggests that we think of tonalli, when referring to a "day," as having a qualitative aspect, and ilhuitl, when referring to a "day," as having a quantitative one.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Celestial Phenomena
Flowers
Plants, Flora
Religion (Indigenous)
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Weather, Climate
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
frontal view
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

sun, sol, día, day, fuerza personal del sol, personal energy source

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

tonal(li), sun, day, or a solar-derived animating force located in the human head, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tonalli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Sol, o Una Fuerza Animadora Personal

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 554v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=188&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: 

Atonal (MH554v)

tonalli (MH559v)

tonalli (MH544v)

tonalli (MH528v)

tonalli (MH704v)

tonalli (MH764v)