Matlalaca (MH486r)

Matlalaca (MH486r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the personal name Matlalaca includes an upright reed (acatl) and a flower. The reed is segmented like bamboo or carrizo. It also has two thin leaves. The flower (matlalin) has three large, rounded petals, with a small circle in the middle and some texturing on the petals. Small points appear between each of the petals. A matlalin glyph, below, provided for the purpose of comparison, has a beautiful turquoise blue color with a red or pink center.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This was a prominent autonomous-era name and one that lived on into the Spanish colonial era, as shown in our Online Nahuatl Dictionary. Matlalacatl would appear to be a dark green reed or a flower that grows on a dark green herb. It is also close to the name Matlactli Acatl ("Ten Reed" or "10-Reed") a calendrical name. If that is really the intended name, then the flower would serve a phonetic purpose.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

franco matlallaca

Gloss Normalization: 

Francisco Matlalaca

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Writing Features: 
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

José Aguayo-Barragán and Stephanie Wood

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
Keywords: 

flowers, herbs, reeds, cañas, flores, hierbas, colores

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

Matlalaca, a personal name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matlalaca
matlal(in), dark green, blue, or blue-green color or flower of this color, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matlalin
matlac(tli), ten, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/matlactli
aca(tl), reed/cane, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/acatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

La Caña Verde Oscuro

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 483r, World Digital Library. https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=51&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: