Yaotl (MH483r)

Yaotl (MH483r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for the personal name Yaotl ("The Combatant") doubles as the simplex for the noun yaotl (enemy). It is a circle with a white cross dividing it into four parts. These parts are colored in with black paint or black ink. The result is a war shield.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Autonomous-era war shields were usually round and had feathers hanging from the bottom. This design appears to be a hybrid of a European crest or shield (rodela or escudo) and an Indigenous war shield.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle, circular or rounded
cross (+)
quincunx or quatrefoil
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

yaotl, enemy, combatant, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yaotl.

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Combatiente

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 483r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=45&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: