Xochitlatoa (MH674r)

Xochitlatoa (MH674r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Xochitlatoa (“He Speaks Flowers”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph builds on the face of the tribute payer himself, with a short line connecting to a beautifully drawn and detailed flower with five visible petals, a tripartite base, and a short stem. Some shading at the base of the petals, gives the flower a three-dimensionality. The location of the flower (xochitl) shares its positioning with what might be speech scrolls if the flower were not there, as though he is speaking (tlatoa) in a flowery way (xochitlatoa, or xohitlahtoa, with the glottal stop).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This is a very popular name, still found in Mexico today, especially the state of Puebla. Flowery speech is a known form of speech. In contemporary Nahuatl, one with flowery speech is a poet. [See: Delfino Hernández Hernández, “Xochitlajtouani: El Poeta,” in Yancuic Nahua Zazanilli: Nueva Narrativa, Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, 1985.] Pamela Sandstrom says of flowery speech: "We do know that poetic, well-arranged words in the Nahuatl language were believed to be exceptionally powerful tools for addressing deities and setting things right. Flowery speech coupled with ritual action were the most effective means the Aztecs possessed to keep the forces of chaos at bay." [See her answer to a question published by Mexicolore in 2021.]

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: 
line connecting elements
noun(s)
verb
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Flowers
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Speech, Speaking, Oral Tradition, Languages
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
three-dimensionality
Keywords: 

flores, hablar, nombres de hombres

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

xochi(tl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
tlatoa, to speak, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlatoa-0

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

posiblemente, Flores-Hablar

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 674r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=428&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: 

Xochitlatoa (MH506r)