Tzotzotl (MH570r)

Tzotzotl (MH570r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This small bat is shown in profile, facint toward the viewer’s right. It has proportionally long front paws. Its ears are also large and round. Its curving tail is short.

Added Analysis: 

While the dictionary distinguishes bat (tzotzo) from pustule (tzotzotl), and the gloss for this glyph has the absolutive ending -tl, perhaps the bat serves as a phonetic indicator and is not really the person’s name. Pustule could be the name, because “Pus” is also a person’s name (see Timal, below). But many words in the dictionary that start with tzotzo- have to do with a miserly person or some other pejorative description of a person. So, the final analysis of the name remains in doubt as to which if these interpretations is more likely the correct one.

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, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

bats, murciélagos, persona mezquino y tacaño, pimple, sore, grano, lacerado

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

tzotzo, a bat, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzotzo
tzotzo(tl), pustule, pimple, pock, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzotzot
tzotzoca(tl), a miserly avaricious person, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzotzocatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Persona Mezquino y Tacaño

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 570r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=219&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: 
See Also: 

Timal (MH516r)

Timal (MH570r)