Xiuhnelmani (MH677r)

This compound glyph for the name Xiuhnelmani ("Established as Incapable," "Morning Star," or "Cloud Serpent," attested here as a man's name) consists of a bird’s eye view of a cluster of four squares and one rectangle laid out (mani) by a hand (maitl). The hand serves as a phonetic indicator for the -mani ending to the name. The added meaning of mani deserves further research especially if this Xiuhnel is a celestial phenomenon. The pieces appear to be tesserae for making turquoise (xihuitl) mosaics, providing a phonetic indicator for the start of the name, Xiuh-. Perhaps the tesserae are “laid out” in a way to evoke a constellation. Mani could also mean "in the manner of" the Morning Star or Cloud Serpent. The -nel- part of the name is not shown visually, unless we are overlooking some element of the glyph.

At first glance the name Xiuhnel appears to be a compound of xihuitl (turquoise) and nelli (true). James Lockhart suggests that -nel-, when in combinations, could lose that meaning, as noted in the OND under the term nelli. But there is a xiuhnel meaning "incapable" according to Wimmer 2004 (included in the Gran Diccionario Náhuatl). Some also say Xiuhnel is the morning star. If so, then the rectangular shapes may relate to that. Perhaps more appealing for a person's name is the one provided by a human origin story written in Nahuatl in 1558. In that story Xiuhnel was a cloud serpent, according to an article by Willard Gingerich. And the translators of the Primeros Memoriales say that Xiuhnel and Mimich were prominent figures in many migration stories of central Mexican cultures. See the Sullivan and Nicholson edition of the PM (1997, 135).