Cipac (MH603v)
This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Cipac (“Crocodile,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a profile view of a crocodile, facing toward the viewer's right, with its mouth open. It has ridges on both its back and stomach and a bifurcated tail. Tonalli-like (shimmer) lines come off the top of the animal, and there is something of a diamond shape in the middle of its body.
Stephanie Wood
This name is a day sign. Originally, a name like this would have a number attached to it. But calendrical names were evolving at the time of this manuscript (1560), often dropping their numbers. This day sign comes from the tonalpohualli, the 260-day divinatory calendar. Calendrics figure importantly in Nahuas' religious views of the cosmos. The thirteen-day cycle that was started by One-Cipactli was an auspicious time to be born according to a downloadable publication hosted by Mexicolore.
The lines radiating from the top of this animal are also found in an example of tzitzimitl (supernaturals), in that case emanating from the head of an eagle.
Stephanie Wood
melchiol çipac
Melchor Cipac
Stephanie Wood
1560
Stephanie Wood
alligators, cocodrilos, crocodiles, días, calendarios, nombres, tonalli, vitalidad, animales, nombres de hombres
cipac(tli), crocodile, caiman, alligator, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cipactli
tonal(li), day, sun, or animating force, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tonalli
Cocodrilo
Stephanie Wood
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 603v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=289st=image.
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).
