Tehuehuec (Mdz28r)

Tehuehuec (Mdz28r)
Simplex Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex glyph of a drum (huehuetl) also stands for the place name Tehuehuec. It is an upright drum, made of wood (note the terracotta and purple colors, which are also used for earth and stone). The top has a jaguar skin covering. The bottom has stepped-shape cutouts, which provide the (typically three) legs for the drum. The locative suffix (-c) is not shown visually.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This percussion instrument could be struck with the human hand or with a mallet. Here is a website that provides considerable information about the drum, including photographs of surviving huehuetl and images from codices.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

tehuehuec. pu^o

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Tehuehuec, pueblo

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

noun(s)

reduplication (in gloss/text)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals: Misc.

Music, Song, Dance

Names (places)

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

orange/terracotta

purple

Shapes and Perspectives:

stepped

wavy

Keywords:

nombres de lugares

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Notes:

The huehuetl, depicted here in small green stone sculptures, is a vertical drum usually made from a hollowed log and covered at the top with animal skin. This drum was played in pre-contact times for religious celebrations. It is still known and played today in Mexico. Photograph by Stephanie Wood, Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City, 15 February 2023.

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

huehue(tl), upright drum, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huehuetl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el atabal

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Alonso de Molina

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 28 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 66 of 188.

Image Source, Rights:

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).