Quetzalcoa (MH535v)

Quetzalcoa (MH535v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Quetzalcoa (“Quetzal Feather Serpent,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a frontal view of an array of eight quetzal feathers emerging from behind a coiled serpent (in profile, facing right). The serpent's belly has some shading (three-dimensionality), its eye is open, and its bifurcated tongue is protruding.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The name Quetzalcoatl is especially famous globally as a major figure in Nahua religion. Interestingly, the name Ecatl (or Ehecatl) is much more common, as it is a day sign in the calendar, and Quetzalcoatl is not.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories:

deity name/theonym

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Feathers

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Religion (Indigenous)

Tongue Protruding/Noticeable

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

bifurcated

facing right

profile view

shading and parallel line hatching

spiky

spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling

three-dimensionality

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

deities, deidades, fuerza divina, divinidades, divinities, feathered serpent

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Quetzalcoatl, deity name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quetzalcoatl
quetzal(li), quetzal feathers, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/quetzalli
coa(tl), serpent, snake, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

La Serpiente Emplumada

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 535v, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=150&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: