Atl Popoca (MH483v)

Atl Popoca (MH483v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black line drawing of a compound glyph for the personal name, Atl Popoca (or Atlpopoca), contains two notable components. One is water (atl) that swirls, that has a spiral. The other is smoke curling (popoca, "to smoke") above the water. In between is either water rising in splashes with droplets/beads at the top of each one, or these are flames that are meant to help explain the source of the smoke.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The Nahuas have a concept called teoatl tlachinolli, divine flood and conflagration, which show a warring relationship between water and fire that is intriguing for what we might be seeing in atl popoca. See the symbol for atl tlachinolli hosted by Mexicolore. The part on the lower right might have a similarity to the part on the atl popoca glyph between the water and the smoke. Flood and conflagration were serious threats to people living in urban areas on or around lakes.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

atl popoca

Gloss Normalization:

Atl Popoca (or Atlpopoca)

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

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Fire, Tobacco, Incense, Smoke

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Religion (Indigenous)

Water

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

agua, fuego, humo, flamas, espirales

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

atl, water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
popoca, to smoke, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/popoca

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 483v, World Digital Library. https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=46&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: