Xochitlatoa (MH874r)

Xochitlatoa (MH874r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Xochitlatoa (or Xochitlahtoa, when including the glottal stop), perhaps meaning "He Speaks Flowers," shows the head of a man in profile, looking toward the viewer’s right. He has a line down the side of his head, perhaps representing face paint or a tattoo. Several speech scrolls or volutes come out of his mouth, and attached to them on the far right side are two flowers. These flowers have three visible petals each.

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:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

miguel xochitlatoa

Gloss Normalization:

Miguel Xochitlatoa

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

Syntax:

noun(s)

verb

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flowers

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Scrolls (Speech, Song, etc.)

Speech, Speaking, Oral Tradition, Languages

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

tripartite

Keywords:

flores, hablar, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

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

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

posiblemente, ´El Habla en Flores

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 874r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=820&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: