Olin (MH618r)

Olin (MH618r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Olin ("Movement" or "Earthquake") shows what appears to be a toy spinning top, vertical, with a disc on a stick, positioned up near the top. The edge of the disc is striped with black.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

If this is a toy spinning top, the use of this image as the simplex glyph for olin suggests European cultural influence. The gloss is ambiguous as to whether olin or olli is intended, but something spinning would suggest movement, making it olin. If this were olli (rubber, ball) a black rubber ball would enter into the glyph. Sometimes both are present together, one serving as a phonetic complement, and sometimes it is also a challenge to decide which is the intended name.

The edge of the spinning disk is something like the edge of one of the elements (olli) of the place name Olac (see below) as found in the manuscript collection Hospital de Jesús in the Archivo General de la Nación in Mexico City.

Olin was a day name in the 260-day divinatory calendar called the tonalpohualli in Nahuatl. This calendar had a role in various Mesoamerican religions, including the Mixtec.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

diego holli

Gloss Normalization: 

Diego Olin

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Keywords: 

juguetes, movimiento, peonza

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Movimiento, o Temblor

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 618r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=318st=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: