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. The -nel- part of the name is not shown visually, unless we are overlooking some element of the glyph. James Lockhart suggests that -nel-, when in combinations, could lose the meaning of “true,”, as noted in the Online Nahuatl Dictionary under the term nelli. There is a xiuhnel meaning "incapable" according to Wimmer 2004 (included in the Gran Diccionario Náhuatl). 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. Some also say Xiuhnel is the morning star.