popoyotl (MH608r)

popoyotl (MH608r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

Drawing from the gloss (ciegos, Spanish for blind people) and other examples of blind people in this hieroglyph database, we are tentatively calling this simplex glyph "popoyotl" (a blind person). It is a profile view of a man (Pedro Cuauhtli), looking toward the viewer's right. Black scribbling covers his visible eye.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This glyph is just one blind person out of more than one, given the plural, ciegos. It is sad to think that there were at least two blind people in one small community. The contextualizing image shows another blind person below this one. This other man was named Felipe Nauhyotepi.

One wonders if the epidemics that ravaged early Mexico left people blinded. One cause of blindness is trachoma. Mexico eliminated this disease in recent years, according to the Pan American Health Organization. (See: https://www3.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13...)

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

çiegos

Gloss Normalization: 

ciegos

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Gender (male)
Health, Medicine
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

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

blind, blinded, ciegos, nauhyotl

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

popoyo(tl), a blind person, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/popoyotl
ixcocoxqui, a blind person, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ixcocoxqui

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el ciego

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 608r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=298st=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: 

ixpopoyotl (MH546v)

popoyotl (MH546v)

Popoyotl (MH736r)