Tzihuacmitl (MH509r)

Tzihuacmitl (MH509r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Tzihuacmitl (here, attested as a man's name), includes two principal elements. One is a frontal view of a small cactus representing the (tzihuactli, which should probably be an agave) and, behind that, an arrow (mitl) on a diagonal with the jagged point on the lower left.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The simple translation for this compound would be Cactus-Arrow, but there is a dictionary word, tzihuacmitl, which refers to a spine-arrow or an arrow whose stalk comes from a spiny agave plant.

A metaphorical use of tzihuactli is found in the huehuetlatolli (“elders’ wisdom; words of the elders”) compiled under the leadership of Fray Andrés de Olmos. In the published version’s glossary, an editor’s note tells us that “in the original Nahuatl, tzihuactli, teteihuitl, is a diphrasism that refers to two objects [used in] sacrificial rites.”

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

diego
tzinhuacmitl

Gloss Normalization:

Diego Tzihuacmitl

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Gender (male)

Gifts, Offerings, Sacrifice

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Plants, Flora

Religion (Indigenous)

War or Conflict

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

spiky

pointed (see also spiky)

frontal view

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

front to back

Keywords:

cactos, cacti, arrows, flechas, spines, espinas, tzihuactli, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tzihuac(tli), tzihuac(tli), a small agave with a spiny flower stalk, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzihuactli, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzihuactli
tzihuacmi(tl), arrow spine, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzihuacmitl
mi(tl), arrow, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Cacto-Flecha

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 509r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=97&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: