Tzihuacxoch (MH741v)

Tzihuacxoch (MH741v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Tzihuacxoch (perhaps “Agave Flower”) is attested here as a woman’s name. The glyph combines, on the left, a stalk with the flower at the top. Merged with this, on the right, is the typical sign for tzihuactli, which looks like a tree with the branches cut off. If so, the tree (cuahuitl) could be providing the phonetic “hua” of tzihuactli, and the branches cut off may somehow imitate the flowering stalk of the agave plant.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Note the creative commons image of an agave stalk, below, which was photographed by Álvaro González in 2024 and published on line: https://identify.plantnet.org/be/k-world-flora/species/Agave%20sisalana%....

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

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:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flowers

Gender (female)

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

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

cactus, cactos, magueyes, flores, nombres de mujeres

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons:

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tzihuac(tli), a small agave with a spiny flower stalk, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzihuactli
xoch(itl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

posiblemente Flor de Agave

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 741v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=561&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: