Ecailacatz (MH485r)

Ecailacatz (MH485r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for the personal name Ecailacatz is a black and white drawing of what appears to be a shell, with a spiral in the upper center. It is shaped something like a butterfly. It has scalloped edges and texturing inside. The texturing or shading may intend to give a three-dimensionality.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

A great many glyphs in this collection start with Eca- when one might expect Eheca-. We are preserving the proclivity of the gloss for Eca-, while also pointing to the likelihood of an unintentional oral abbreviation of Eheca- to Eca-. The Gran Diccionario Nahuatl has a vocabulary term much like this one, ecailacatzcozcayo, and Wimmer (2004) translated it (into French) to the effect of "that which bears the spiral pattern of the wind." It may be a stretch, but there are conch shells that, when put up to the ear, one can hear what sounds like wind or ocean waves. Wind was ehecatl (often abbreviated ecatl, air), a divine force and a day sign in the calendar. Cutaway views of the insides of shells reveal the swirls that bring to mind swirling winds and movement in general.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

juā ecayllacatz

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Ecailacatz

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
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Shells
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
dotted, granular, textured
cross-sectioned object
shading and parallel line hatching
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
three-dimensionality
Keywords: 

winds, viento, caracoles, conchas, espirales, spirals, shells

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

ilacatz(tli), spiral, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ilacatztli
eca(tl), air, breath, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ecatl
eheca(tl), wind, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ehecatl
ecailacatzcozcayo (see GDN)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

"El Espiral del Viento"

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 485r, 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: