Ozoma (MH499r)

Ozoma (MH499r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Ozoma, attested here as a man's name, shows the head of a monkey (ozomatli) in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. It has hair standing up on end and leaning slightly over his face, in other words, toward the viewer's right.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The glyph for monkey very typically shows the hair (tzontli) on the top of its head standing up, and sometimes the hair is long and thick, and so very noticeable. Perhaps this portrayal of hair is meant to serve as a phonetic complement for the "zom" in the middle of the root ozoma, given that "tzon-" stands for hair.

The ozomatli is a day sign in the calendar, so it was given as a name to babies born on its day. There was also a divine force or deity named Ozomatli, which, according to Desmond Morris (Monkey, 2013, 41), was "the companion spirit and servant of the god Xochipilli, the deity of music and dance. In paintings it is depicted dressed in malinalli herbs and with white, oval earrings with pointed ends."

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

pedro
oçoma

Gloss Normalization: 

Pedro Ozoma

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
phonetic possibilities
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Hair (human or animal)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
profile view
facing right
Keywords: 

monkeys, monos, calendarios, tonalpohualli, días, deidades, deities, divinities, divine forces, ozomatli, nombres de hombres

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

ozoma(tli), monkey, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ozomatli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Mono

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 499r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=77&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: 

Ozoma (MH639v)