Xochiman (MH500r)

Xochiman (MH500r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Xochiman ("Like a Flower") is attested as a man’s name. It shows a flower in a profile view, leaning toward the viewer's left. The flower (xochitl) has three swirls toward the top of the petals. Coming off the top right side of the flower is a small hand (maitl). The hand is a phonetic indicator for the verb mani, "to be like" or "in the manner of."

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Another example of a glyph of this name, Xochiman, appears below. It does not have the hand. Gordon Whittaker has noticed that the hand is "always in upright orientation when it has the values MAitl) and ma(n)" (2021, 104). He shares compound glyphs for the place name, Oztoman, from the Codex Mendoza as examples of compounds that also use the hand to represent the verb mani. Toliman is another one (see below), but this is an exception, where the hand reaches in from the side.

A doña María Cortés Xochima(..?) appears in the Techialoyan codex called the García Granados (Arqueología mexicana, 29-34 (1998), 62.] The name Xochima is also still very common today. There are towns called Xochimanca and Xochimatlan. John Bierhort's concordance (1985, 191) to the Cantares Mexicanos mentions a line in the songs that refers to "my home that lies in flowers" (xochimani). This is the other mani, to lie or extend.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

domīgo
xochima

Gloss Normalization: 

Domingo Xochima[n]

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
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
verb
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Flowers
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Plants, Flora
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
facing left
profile view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Keywords: 

flowers, hands, flores, manos, estar

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

xochi(tl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
ma(itl), hand, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl
mani, to be like or in the manner of, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mani-1
mani, to be (as in located somewhere), to extend out, to lie stretched out, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mani

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Como una Flor

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 500r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=79&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: 

Xochiman (MH497v)

Oztoman (Mdz10v)

Oztoman (Mdz18r)

Oztoman (Mdz37r)

Toliman (Mdz40r)