Xaya (MH492v)

Xaya (MH492v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Xaya is a human face (xayacatl) in profile looking toward the viewer's right. The one visible eye is open. It might be a man's face.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The man who has the name Xaya also has the baptismal Christian first name of Toribio, which shows that he has been baptized. He may have been named after Toribio de Benavente, also known as Motolinia ("One Who is Poor or Afflicted"). This was the first word he learned in Nahuatl, and he went on to learn the language well. He lived in the monastery in Huejotzingo. Doing a quick search for the name "Toribio" will produce an impressive result.

The name Xaya leaves off the -catl of xayacatl, which makes it more abbreviated than many Nahua names. Reviewing other examples of xayacatl, some have a mask-like look to them (especially the turquoise one, given that masks were often covered with turquoise tesserae). Most are in profile, but one is given in a frontal view.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

thoribio xaya

Gloss Normalization: 

Toribio Xaya

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Xitlali Torres

Shapes and Perspectives: 
Keywords: 

faces, caras, masks, máscaras, nombres de hombres

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

xayaca(tl), face/mask, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content, xayacatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Cara

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 492v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=52&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: