temo (MH487r)

temo (MH487r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for the verb to descend (temo) shows a bird's eye view of two alternating footprints pointing downward. The print of the right foot shows all five toes, but the toes on the print of the left foot have been hastily drawn and do not clearly number five. The main point, however, is to show descent.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Footprint glyphs have a wide range of translations. In this collection, so far, we can attest to yauh, xo, pano, -pan, paina, temo, nemi, quetza, otli, iyaquic hualiloti, huallauh, tepal, tetepotztoca, totoco, otlatoca, -tihui, and the vowel "o." Other research (Herrera et al, 2005, 64) points to additional terms, including: choloa, tlaloa, totoyoa, eco, aci, quiza, maxalihui, centlacxitl, and xocpalli.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Syntax: 
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Shapes and Perspectives: 
Keywords: 

footprints, huellas, footprint, huella

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

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 487v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=53&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).