Zanen (MH779v)

Zanen (MH779v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Zanen (“In Vain,” also spelled Zannen) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a frontal view of a nenetl (referring to a doll, deity figurine, or women’s genitals), which provides the phonetic value for the second syllable of this name (-nen), underlining the negative behavior of the person (who works in vain or uselessly).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

See other examples of glyphs for the name Zanen below. One has a very mysterious shape, perhaps suggesting a deity or divine force rather than the female or goddess-like doll.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

juan çanen

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Zanen

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
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Gender (female)
Gender (male)
Names (men's, but w/ female dimension)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia
Toys
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

zanen, in vain, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/zanen

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

En Vano

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 779v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=633&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: 
"ç" for z or tz
dropped "n"
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Zanen (MH629r)

Zanen (MH647v)