Tzompan (MH652v)

Tzompan (MH652v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Tzompan ("Skull Rack") is attested here as a man's name. It shows the top half of a bundle that is used to represent the number 400 (tzontli) in codices. Above that is a flag or banner (panitl), upright, rectangular, and facing toward the viewer's right. This is a fully phonographic compound that may have been used to disguise the fact that this name and concept is living on well after the establishment of Spanish colonialism. If so, this is an indirect effect, and it does not fully disguise the concept, given that the gloss is there (however, it was likely added by someone other than the artist).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

juā çōpan

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Tzompan

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Writing Features: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
Other Cultural Influences: 
Keywords: 

calaveras, palos, plataformas, banderas, nombres de hombres, tzompantli

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

(el plataforma de calaveras, un palo con cabezas de personas sacrificadas)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 652v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=387&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).

Orthography: 
Historical Contextualizing Image: