Xochitonal (MH791r)

Xochitonal (MH791r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Xochitonal (“Flower-Day,” "Flower-Sun," or a mythical iguana figure of Mictlan) is attested here as a man’s name. It shows a flower with three petals and coming off the top and sides of the flower are an array of short black lines that indicate the shimmer and light of the sun (tonalli) radiating off the flower.

Description, 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)

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Celestial Phenomena

Flowers

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Plants, Flora

Religion (Indigenous)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

shimmer, vibrance, shine with warmth & movement

tripartite

frontal view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

inherent/internal/merged

Keywords:

nombres de hombres, criatura mítica de Mictlan, flores, días, sol, energía solar

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Xochitonal, a personal name and the name of a mythical creature (an iguana or 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 791r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=656&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: