Xelhuan (MH536r)

Xelhuan (MH536r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph represents the personal name Xelhuan (also spelled Xelhua). The glyph appears to be a European-style pot with a spiky plant with nine leaves or a group of quetzal feathers possibly made into a headdress (see below for comparisons). Perhaps the items in the pot are meant to be distributed (relating to the verb, xeloa).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Xelhua or Xelhuan was the name of a a figure in Nahua origin stories who has been interpreted as a mythical giant, prince, or "deity," the son of Ilancueitl, and someone active in the Tehuacan Valley. [See Emily Umberger, "Aztec Presence and Material Remains in the Outer Provinces," in Aztec Imperial Strategies, ed. Frances Berdan (1996, 170).] He may have climbed Mount Tlaloc to escape a flood, and some attribute him with organizing the construction of the huge pyramid in Cholula. Our Online Nahuatl Dictionary also reports that Xelhuan was the name of: "a Nonoalca Chichimeca who settled in Tula with three other Nonoalcas and four Tolteca Chichimecas, according to the Historia Tolteca Chichimeca or Anales de Cuauhtinchan." A feathered headdress would align with memories of the Chichimeca people that were held by sedentary central Mexicans.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

digo xelhuā

Gloss Normalization: 

Diego Xelhua

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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)
verb
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Ceramics, Pottery
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
leaf, marquise, pointed oval
pointed (see also spiky)
vertical, upright
Keywords: 

distribute, distribuir, divide, dividir, counters, marcadores, feathers, plumas

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

Xelhuan, name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xelhuan
xeloa, to divide or distribute, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xeloa

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Él Que Distribuye Cosas (_)

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 536r, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=151&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: 

Xelhuan (MH536r)

Ilancueitl (TR29v)

Quetzalcoa (MH535v)