Xochtopil (MH550v)

Xochtopil (MH550v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name or office, Xochtopil (“Flowered Staff,” attested here as a man’s name), shows a vertical stick with an upright red flower--with a tripartite sepal, stem, and one leaf--coming out on the viewer's right. The flower has three visible petals and it is painted a bright red.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

While the glyph appears to represent an object--a staff that is decorated with flowers--there is a possibility that it refers to an occupation or position of authority in the altepetl. The staff (topilli) was a symbol of authority, and in Indigenous communities of New Spain, the topile (Hispanized version of topilli) was a constable.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

pedro xochtopil

Gloss Normalization:

Pedro Xochtopil

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)

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Flowers

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Occupations

Plants, Flora

Politics, Power, Governance

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

linear or multiple straight lines

profile view

tripartite

vertical, upright

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

right to left

Keywords:

flores, bastones, autoridad

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

xoch(itl), flower, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
topil(li), staff of office or constable, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/topilli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

El Topile de Flores

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 550v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=180&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: