Xochiteotl (MH670r)

Xochiteotl (MH670r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Xochiteotl (perhaps “Flower-Divinity”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a frontal view of a large flower with four petals and a circular center. Surrounding this flower are triangles and squiggles, perhaps contributors to the sense of the divinity (teotl). They seem to add movement and possibly shimmer. What is above the flower remains to be deciphered. Might it be an unusual flow of water or plant stems, and do they contribute to the teotl of the name?

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

A number of hieroglyphs in this collection, with varying elements, have the shared gloss, Xochiteotl, a man’s name. Perhaps an aggregation of more examples will help crack the code. Further research is warranted.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

visual movement

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flowers

Gender (male)

Movement

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Religion (Indigenous)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle, circular or rounded

frontal view

quincunx or quatrefoil

shimmer, vibrance, shine with warmth & movement

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

outward (from inside out)

Keywords:

squiggles, squiggly, flores, divinas, divinos, divinidad, dioses, deidades, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xochi(tl), flowers, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
teo(tl), a divine force, a deity, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teotl

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 670r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=420&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:

"th" for t, d, or gd

Historical Contextualizing Image: