Cozcamiyauh (MH507v)

Cozcamiyauh (MH507v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of a simplex glyph featuring a maize tassel (miyahuatl) stands for the personal name Cozcamiyauh. The necklace (cozcatl) part of the name is not shown visually. The tassel is shown leaning toward the viewer's right and curving. One upright leaf (or perhaps another sprig of blossoms) appears on the left side of the tassel. The tassel has small markings or texturing that suggest it is made of several strands and tiny blossoms.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

A corn tassel can often have an array of sprigs going different directions as an online detail image shows. So the leaf with the miyahuatl may actually be another sprig of blossoms. As our Online Nahuatl Dictionary shows in various attestations of the term, the curving of the miyahuatl is a diagnostic that was not lost on the Nahua observers and writers. See also how one of the artists of the Codex Mendoza (below) painted the miyahuatl, with two curving strands of blossoms.

There was apparently a female divine force ("diosa") with this name, as mentioned in a 1908 issue of the Anthropos journal (v. 3, p. 1003): "Cozcamiyauh. A onra desta diosa mataban una muger y desque le havían sacado el corazón, cortábanle la cabesa y azían areyto con ella...." (in honor of this goddess, they killed a woman, and after they had taken out her heart, the cut off her head and they made a fuss with it). It is interesting that this name lived on into the Spanish colonial period given these autonomous-era religious associations.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

francisca
cozcamiyauh

Gloss Normalization: 

Francisca Cozcamiyauh

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Keywords: 

necklaces, collares, corn tassels, borlas de maíz

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Collar de Borlas de Maíz (nombre de una fuerza divina)

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 507v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=94&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: 
See Also: