Valiente (MH732v)
This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name, Valiente (a name in Spanish that means “Brave”) seems to derive from the Nahuatl name, Cuauhcihuatl (literally, “Eagle-Woman,” but meaning “Brave” and “Mature”). It is attested here as a man’s name. It shows a profile view of the head of a mature woman (cuauhcihuatl), with wrinkles on her face, looking to the right. Below her head is the head of an eagle (cuauhtli), a phonetic complement that clarifies what kind of woman this is. The eagle head also appears facing right. Its eye and beak are open.
Stephanie Wood
This could be a compound glyph with both logographic and phonetic dimensions, except that it is not glossed in Nahuatl. We are presuming the name to be Cuauhcihuatl in Nahuatl, which also means “Brave,” in reference to a mature woman, based upon another glyph in this collection that comes from the Florentine Codex (see below). Interestingly, cihuayollo (literally, female-heart) is a word that refers to someone who is effeminate, cowardly, and without much spirit, which seems to contradict the forcefulness of cuauhcihuatl. Therefore, the eagle part of this name is what brings the sense of bravery to it.
Stephanie Wood
1560
Jeff Haskett-Wood
mujeres, fuertes, valientes, nombres de hombres
cuauhcihua(tl), a mature woman, brave, firm of heart (literally, eagle-woman), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuauhcihuatl
cihuayollo, effeminate, cowardly, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cihuayollo
Águila-Mujer
Stephanie Wood
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 732v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=543&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).
