Xochitopil (MH648v)
This colorful painting of the compound glyph for the personal name Xochitopil ("Flower Staff") combines a flowering (xochitl) plant with a long stem that could refer (if obliquely) to the topilli (staff of office). The plant has two stems (top and left) with pink and white, tripartite flowers, and two stems (on the right) that are cut or broken off.
Stephanie Wood
It is just possible that the man's name here is Xochi and his office is that of topile (possessor of the staff). The gloss does separate the two elements. But there is a dictionary term for xochitopilli, so we are giving that preference for now.
The gloss identifies a Christian first name (Toribio). He may have been named after Toribio de Benavente, also known as Motolinia ("One Who is Poor or Afflicted"). This was the first word he learned in Nahuatl, and he went on to learn the language well. He lived in the monastery in Huejotzingo. Doing a quick search for the name "Toribio" will produce an impressive result.
Stephanie Wood
toribio xochi topil
Toribio Xochitopil
Stephanie Wood
1560
Jeff Haskett-Wood
flores, topiles, nombres de hombres
xochitopil(li), special staffs of authority made of flowers, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitopilli
xochi(tl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
topil(li), staff of office, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/topilli
topile, low-level official, such as a constable, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/topile
Topil de Flores, o Cetro de Flores
Stephanie Wood
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 648v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=379&st=image
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).
