Tzompanhua (MH718r)

Tzompanhua (MH718r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name, Tzompanhua (perhaps, “One Who Has a Tzompantli,” which can be a tree or a skull rack), is attested here as pertaining to a man. The glyph shows a frontal view of a tree with four branches and large leaves on each branch. This tree could be a stand-in for a skull rack, which could have been too inflammatory for Spanish colonial officials. If so, then it is a homophonic phonogram.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Given that there was at least one town called Tzompanhuacan, the “name” Tzompanhua may actually refer to a person from that town. Another tree appears for Tzompan in this collection. Some other glyphs for Tzompan treat it entirely phonographically, combining hair (tzontli) with flags (panitl or pamitl). These also seem to represent efforts to disguise the real meaning of the name.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

pe^o. tzonpaua

Gloss Normalization:

Pedro Tzompanhua

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories:

personal name

phonetic possibilities

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

leaf, marquise, pointed oval

frontal view

roots are visible

Keywords:

tzompantli, árboles, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tzompan(tli), a skull rack or a tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzompantli
tzompancuahui(tl), a coral tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzompancuahuitl
-hua, a possessive, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/hua

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

cierto árbol, o Estante de Cráneos

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 718r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=514&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: