Mazahuatl (MH517v)

Mazahuatl (MH517v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph of the personal name (or ethnicity) Mazahuatl, has the (European) shape of a sun or star with an added small circle at the center. This sun has sixteen rays spreading out from outside the center circle.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Juan José Batalla Rosado (2018, 89–90) has suggested that this representation of the ethnicity called Mazahua is a phonetic reproduction of deer (mazatl) spines (ahuatl), without intending the corresponding meaning. Early on, the word for deer was applied to horses, which were a re-introduction from Europe. And the shape here, as suggested by Batalla, points to the spur that horseback riders would wear on their boots. This same shape is echoed in a number of other glyphs in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco, as Batalla demonstrates. I have also seen a similar shape used for the name Citlal, but that one is greatly removed from all the others, which represent the neologism tepozahuatl (metal spines) or tepozhuitztli (metal thorns).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

peo maçavatl

Gloss Normalization: 

Pedro Mazahuatl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Keywords: 

spurs, espuelas, etnicidades, mazahuas

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

Mazahua

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 517v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=114&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: