Yecaxoch (MH632v)

Yecaxoch (MH632v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Yecaxochitl (perhaps "Wind-Flower") is attested here as a woman's name. The elements are an anthropomorphic head with a buccal mask recalling the device of the divine force of the wind, Ehecatl. Attached to--and behind--the head is a flower with three visible petals, a stem, a leaf, and two long pistils or stamen with double anthers at the ends.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

It is not unusual to find a visual representation of what may be Ehecatl spelled with a "y" at the start (see below). More common, however, is simply Eca-.

Yecaxochitl (with the absolutive) appears as a name in the Nuevos documentos relativos a los bienes de Hernán Cortés, 1547–1947 (1946), 185, and in The Códice de Santa María Asunción, eds. Barbara J. Williams and ‎H. R. Harvey (1997). Neither of these sources suggests a translation.

In some flowers, such as this one, the anthers are rather pronounced. The anthers are the flower parts that produce and provide the pollen, which has the reproductive capacity that has been compared in Western cultures to semen.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

ynes
yecaxoch

Gloss Normalization: 

Inés Yecaxoch

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
deity name/theonym
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Flowers
Gender (female)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Sexuality, Fertility
Weather, Climate
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
profile view
frontal view
facing right
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
right to left
Keywords: 

agua dulce, fresh water, flowers, flores, wind, air, breath, viento, aire, aliento, nombres de mujeres, viudas

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

yeca(tl), fresh water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/yecatl
eca(tl), breath, air, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ecatl
eheca(tl), wind, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ehecatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Flor de Agua Dulce

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 632r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=347&st=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).

Orthography: 
"y" for i
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

xochitl (Mdz27r)

Ecatl (MH622r)

Yecatl (MH660v)