Tzicuil (MH555r)
This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tzicuil (perhaps “Thin Bodied," or Cicuil, "Ribs," attested here as a man’s name) shows a profile view of a small, reclining, human figure with hands in the air, messy short hair on the head, prominent rib bones (omicicuil(li)), and one leg raised slightly, as though in movement. He seems weak and vulnerable.
Stephanie Wood
Terms for ribs and becoming thin can start with ci- or tzi-, apparently (see our dictionary field). Regardless of the spelling, a semantic and homophonic relationship seems clear. It is also worth noting that there was a revered Tzicuiltzin that perhaps this person was named after. She was a daughter (and the first child) of Quinatzin. She was also the mother of don Francisco Carlos Xoconochtzin. (See: History and Mythology of the Aztecs: The Codex Chimalpopoca, 1998, 50.) Her existence is the reason for the choice of Tzicuil here over Cicuil. Incidentally, the gloss adds the note omique, "they died."
Stephanie Wood
[Jacōpo] cicuil Omique
[Jacobo] Tzicuil; omique (or omiqueh, adding the glottal stop)
Stephanie Wood
1560
cuerpo pequeño, small body, bones, huesos
Tzicuiltzin, a famous name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzicuiltzin
tzicuilihui, to become thin, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzicuilihui
cicuil(li), small body or carcass, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cicuilli
omicicuil(li), rib bones, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/omicicuilli
Costillas
Stephanie Wood
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 555r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=189&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).
