Tzihuacmitl (MH526r)

Tzihuacmitl (MH526r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Tzihuacmitl ("Agave-Stalk-Arrow," attested here as a man’s name) shows a frontal view of a tree (cuahuitl), apparently used phonetically here to represent the small agave with a spiny flower stalk, the (tzihuactli). To the left of the tree is the arrow. Segmentation is visible in the reed (what is called carrizo in Spanish and acatl in Nahuatl?) from which the arrow has been made. The arrow has the usual feather decorations (one wing feather and one down feather), and this one has a notably carved arrowhead.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

One example of a glyph for the name Tzihuacmitl shows an arrow with part of a cactus (below). But other glyphs for tzihuactli can have the appearance of a tree (cuahuitl) that has had its branches cut off haphazardly. Perhaps this tree or wood is there to underwrite the phonetic "hua" syllable in tzihuactli, given that "cua" and "hua" have a similar sound. See the image of the tzihuactli plant in Book 11 of the Florentine Codex, which shows a spiny flower stalk.

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:

juā tzivacmitl

Gloss Normalization:

Juan 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

phonetic dimensions

Syntax:

hua or cua (from cuahuitl)

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Gender (male)

Gifts, Offerings, Sacrifice

Hunting and Fishing

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Plants, Flora

Religion (Indigenous)

War or Conflict

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

pointed (see also spiky)

segmented

vertical, upright

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

right to left

Keywords:

magueyes, flechas, dardas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

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

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 526r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=131&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: