Xochitonal (MH565v)

Xochitonal (MH565v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Xochitonal (“Flower-Day” or a mythical lizard figure of Mictlan) is attested here as a man’s name. It shows a frontal view of a four-petalled flower (xochitl) with a round center (a sort of quincunx). Below that is a frontal view of a sun (tonalli) drawn with rays radiating out from a central circle. Inside that circle is a face, showing strong European influence.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The flower is reminiscent of the matlalin. One of the compound glyphs for the personal name Tonal shows a flower with water around it. See below. The design of this tonalli is far from the tonalli of the Codex Mendoza from about two decades earlier. Later renditions of the tonalli glyph, such as one from a land dispute from 1558 are more like this one.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

die^o xochitonal

Gloss Normalization:

Diego Xochitonal

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Cardinal Directions, Cosmos

Celestial Phenomena

Flowers

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Plants, Flora

Religion (Indigenous)

Time, Calendar, Frequency

Weather, Climate

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

quincunx or quatrefoil

shimmer, vibrance, shine with warmth & movement

vertical, upright

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

sol, sun, days, días, flowers, flores, quincunxes

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Xochitonal, a personal name and the name of a mythical creature (a lizard) in Mictlan, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitonal
xochi(tl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
tonal(li), life force, sun, day, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tonalli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

James Lockhart (The Nahuas, 1992, 120) says Xochtonal is "Flower Fate," a name that is a poetic metaphor. Cuernavaca region, 1535–1545.

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

La Flor de la Energía Solar

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 565v, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=210&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: