medio tomin (Chav1)

medio tomin (Chav1)
Simplex Glyph
Notation

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex glyph or notation stands for half of a tomin or real, two names for Spanish coins that were parts of pesos. This half tomin (or medio tomin, both loanwords in Nahuatl) is a circle that is filled in about half way, on the the viewer's left, and with the dividing line being vertical. A half of a tomin was one sixteenth (1/16) of a peso, perhaps the pay of half a day's labor for an agricultural worker in the middle of the Spanish colonial period.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

There were eight tomines or eight reales to each peso. These coins represent a European introduction in New Spain. A half tomin was a very small amount of money. See our Online Nahuatl Dictionary for more information about tomin coins and, as it evolved, "money." Given that the weight of coins (in gold or silver) was what determined their value, the term tomin could also refer to weight (12 granos, or grains).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

me^o

Gloss Normalization:

medio

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Chavero, Codex (Chav)

Date of Manuscript:

1578

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Markets, Commerce, Economy

Money, Coins, Prices

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle, circular or rounded

segmented

shading and parallel line hatching

vertical, upright

Other Cultural Influences:

Spanish/European

Keywords:

monedas, tomines, reales, coins, money, dinero

Museum & Rare Book Comparisons:

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

medio, a half, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/medio
tomin, a coin, worth one real, i.e., one eighth of a peso, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tomin

Image Source:

The Codex Chavero of Huexotzinco (or Códice Chavero de Huexotzinco), https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_03246_001/?sp=1

Image Source, Rights:

The Codex Chavero of Huexotzinco (or Códice Chavero de Huexotzinco) is held by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México. It is published online by the World Digital Library and the Library of Congress, which is “unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection.”