Xochiteotl (MH486r)

Xochiteotl (MH486r)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This compound glyph for the personal name Xochiteotl (perhaps "Flower Divinity") is attested here as a man's name. It includes two elements. One is a flower (xochitl), upright, with three or four petals. The other is a stone (tetl), horizontal, with curving stripes and curlicues at both ends. The stone is a phonetic indicator for teotl.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The stone (tetl) here seems to provide the phonetic start of the word teotl (divine force or deity). It is unclear why the artist did not attempt a visual of the word teotl, when such a glyph may have been known to him. Perhaps the tetl was quicker, easier, and a way to avoid the disapproval of the colonial clergy.

The tonalpohualli, being used for "prognostication and divination, had no parallel and contravened Christian dogma so its use was disavowed and prohibited." [See Rubén G. Mendoza, Ritual Human Sacrifice in Mesoamerica (2024), 439.] Nevertheless, calendrics were an important part of Nahuas' religious views of the cosmos, and this practice survived a long time under colonialism, even if in modified form.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

merchiol xochiteotl

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Melchor Xochiteotl

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories:

deity name/theonym

personal name

phonetic dimensions

Syntax:

noun(s)

syllable: te/ten/teo/tel/tetl/teuh/tec/tetz/tez/tec (from tetl/stone)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

fading tradition, or an effort to disguise?

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flowers

Religion (Indigenous)

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

curving, curvy, curved

striped

vertical, upright

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

flowers, flores, stones, piedras, deidades, deities, divinidades, divinities, nombres de hombres, men's names, fonetismo

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xochi(tl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
teo(tl), divine force or deity, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teotl
te(tl), stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

"Flower-Deity" or "Sacred Flower" [H.B. Nicholson, in Mesoamerican Writing Systems, ed. Elizabeth P. Benson (1973), 28.]

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

posiblemente, Flor-Divinidad

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

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).

Orthography:

"l" for r or rr

"r" for l

Historical Contextualizing Image: