Totequipan (Verg24v)

Totequipan (Verg24v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Totequipan (“On Our Tribute Allotment,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a frontal view of what may be a tribute cloth with three sections. Above this is a profile view of a flag or banner on a capped post, possibly made of wood. The flag is flying toward the viewer's left. It has a swallowtail shape, differing from the usual autonomous-era rectangular paper flag. It also has a cap at the top of the post. Thus, this flag suggests European influence.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The -pan is a preposition, saying "on," and has no semantic value relating to flags. The flag is there only for the phonetic value. The compound from which this element has been extracted relates to coatequitl, tribute labor. Draft labor could be agricultural, but it might also involve urban construction and mine labor, among other things. Women had to produce textiles for tribute, but it remains to be verified whether their work was called either coatequitl or tequitl.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

luis. totequipan

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Luis Totequipan

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Vergara, Codex (Verg)

Date of Manuscript:

1539

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

near Tepetlaoztoc, near Tetzcoco

Semantic Categories:

personal name

phonetic dimensions

Syntax:

noun(s)

syllable: pa/pan/pal (from panitl/pamitl, flag)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flags, banners

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

rectangular

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

tributos, manta, mantas, tierra, tierras, posesivo, preposición, possessive, preposition, fonetismo, nombres de hombres, men’s names

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tequi(tl), tribute labor, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tequitl
-pan, in or on, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pan
to-, first person plural possessive, “our,” https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/node/175783

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

posiblemente, En Nuestro Tributo

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Codex Vergara, folio 24v, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84528032/f56.item.zoom, accessed 22 February 2026. The Vergara is associated with Tepetlaoztoc, in the larger region of Tetzcoco, c. 1539–1543.

Image Source, Rights:

The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.” We would also appreciate a citation to the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/.

Orthography:

intrusive period

Historical Contextualizing Image: