cuachichictli (Mdz64r)

cuachichictli (Mdz64r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This example of iconography features a hairstyle called cuachichictli. It was worn by the cuachic warriors, or the "shorn ones." Their distinguishing feature was this "stiff ridge crest" curving along the top of the head. (See Justyna Olko, Turquoise Diadems and Staffs of Office, 2005, 112.) The man's face is a dark brown, but his ear is a tan color, which suggests that his face has been darkened on purpose. The neck and part of the head is a dark gray color. The mohawk-like ridge of hair is black.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Hairstyles can vary by occupation and by ethnicity. See below for a few other types of hairstyles.

The textual reduplication of the "chi" syllable in the term is possibly made visual in the way the pattern of the ridge of hair continues around the head.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

quachic

Gloss Normalization:

cuachic

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1541, by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

reduplication (in gloss/text)

reduplication (visual)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Appearance

Hair (human or animal)

Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment

War or Conflict

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

curving, curvy, curved

spiky

Keywords:

warriors, guerreros, hair styles, cabello, pelo, peinado

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cuachichic(tli), the hairstyle of some warriors, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuachichictli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

James Lockhart (The Nahuas, 1992, 120) refers to the name Cuachiqui, witnessed in a census from the Cuernavaca region (1535–45), as "'Scraped Head' (warrior)."

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

(el peinado del guerrero "cuachic")

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 64 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 138 of 188.

Image Source, Rights:

Original manuscript is held by the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1; used here with the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0)