Huitznahuac (Mdz19r)

The speech element is actually a phonetic indicator meant to call up the locative, -nahuac, near or next to, probably referring to a place where maguey spines or thorns were plentiful. The thorn (huitztli) can be colored red for blood, given that thorns were used for bloodletting and for cutting people who were being punished. The turquoise color may be an indication of preciosity. Incidentally, Huitznahuatl, literally "Thorn Speech," is a title that was held by a dignitary, as shown on folio 66 recto of the Codex Mendoza. The glyph for his title is just the same as this one.

John Bierhorst (A Nahuatl-English Dictionary and Concordance to the Cantares Mexicanos, 1985, 143) says that Huitznahuatl was a "name or epithet of a god to whom slaves were sacrificed in Mexico." Other sources report that one of the ethnic groups that migrated from the Seven Caves came from a place called Huitznahuac, and there was a temple with this association in Mexico Tenochtitlan. Finally, Huitznahuatl was a high title, and it had an association with the South. The name was not inaccessible for tribute-paying men of humble means, such as found in the census of modern-day Morelos and in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco (modern-day Puebla). See the Online Nahuatl Dictionary for more information about Huitznahuac and Huitznahuatl.