Huitzitl (MH638r)

Huitzitl (MH638r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Huitzitl (perhaps "Hummingbird," and the name of a spirit guide to Huitzilopochtli) is attested here as a man's name. The glyph shows a long pointed thorn (huitztli, a near homophone) or the beak of a hummingbird protruding from a man's chin. The actual tax payer's head has been given the added detail, not an extra head drawn just for creating glyph.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Huitzitl, like huitzilin, means hummingbird. Perhaps the beak intentionally resembles a thorn (huitztli) as a way of providing some phonetic assurance that this person's name is huitztli. According to the Gran Diccionario Náhuatl, a Huitzitl was a spirit guide to the deity or divine force, Huitzilopochtli.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

uitzitl

Gloss Normalization: 

Huitzitl

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: 
homophony, rebus
personal name
phonetic possibilities
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
pointed (see also spiky)
profile view
Keywords: 

espinas birds, pájaros, colibrí, colibríes, deidades, fuerzas divinas, Huitzilopochtli, nombres de hombres

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

huitzi(tl), hummingbird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzitl
huitzil(in), hummingbird, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitzilin
huitz(tli), thorn, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/huitztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

posiblemente, Colibrí, o el nombre de un guía espirtual asociado con Huitzilopochtli

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 638r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=358&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).

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Huitzitl Popoca (MH627r)

Huitznahuatl (MH515r)

Huitztecatl (MH615v)

huitzilin (CQ)

Huitzintli (MH614r)

Huitzitl (MH836v)