Xochipoloa (MH486r)

Xochipoloa (MH486r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Xochipoloa ("Indulges in Sweets") combines the noun for flower (xochitl) with the verb for "to destroy" (poloa), employing them both in a phonetic role. It shows a vase with flowers, a human hand removing and perhaps destroying one of the flowers (given the small chaotic lines surrounding the flower), and a butterfly with striped wings on one of the flowers in the vase. It is somewhat possible that the hand is a "grasping hand" that provides the phonetic value of the "oa" ("hua") phonetic sound to the verb, poloa (as though it were spelled polohua, but this may be a stretch). The vase is shown in a frontal view. The butterfly is in profile, facing toward the viewer's left.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The flower that the butterfly is visiting echoes some of the quincunxes that have four small circles on their perimeter, perhaps suggestive of shimmer (see the article on the left navigation bar). It also strongly resembles the "four-petaled flower with a circular center...that functions as an ideogram for olin, the four-phased centered motion" (etc.) See James Maffie, Aztec Philosophy (2014, 231).

The flower vase in this compound glyph (which probably incidentally has a shape reminiscent of the center of a drop spindle in the glyph for Tzauhtica) does not appear to play a phonetic role. The vase seems to be a Spanish cultural object. For other small lines relating to chaos, see examples below.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

pedro xochipollova vaq...

Gloss Normalization:

Pedro Xochipoloa, vaq[uero?]

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories:

personal name

phonetic possibilities

Syntax:

verb

Writing Features:

compound fully phonographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Flowers

Gender (male)

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

inherent/internal/merged

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

flowers, vases, butterflies, mariposas, flores, floreros, indulgencia en dulces, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xochipoloa, indulge in sweets, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochipoloa
xochi(tl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
poloa, to destroy, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/poloa

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Golosinear

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Alonso de Molina

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 486r, World Digital Library. https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=51&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: