Tzompan (MH652v)

Tzompan (MH652v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Tzompan ("Skull Rack") is attested here as a man's name. It shows the top half of a bundle that is used to represent the number 400 (tzontli) in codices, including a band with an emblematic pattern. Above that is a flag or banner (panitl), upright, rectangular, and facing toward the viewer's right. This is a fully phonographic compound that may have been used to disguise the fact that this name and concept is living on well after the establishment of Spanish colonialism. If so, this is an indirect effect, and it does not fully disguise the concept, given that the gloss is there (however, it was likely added by someone other than the artist).

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This compound glyph is fully phonetic given the tzom- (from tzontli) and the -pan (from panitl) combining to create a word with a very different meaning.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

juā çōpan

Gloss Normalization: 

Juan Tzompan

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: 
personal name
phonetic dimensions
Syntax: 
noun(s)
pa/pan/pal syllable from panitl
tzo, tzon, or tzom syllable
Writing Features: 
compound fully phonographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Architecture, Construction, Buildings
Death, decay, decomposition
Flags, banners
Gender (male)
Hair (human or animal)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous Christianity)
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
spiky
stepped
vertical, upright
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
upward
Other Cultural Influences: 
Spanish/European
Keywords: 

calaveras, palos, plataformas, banderas, nombres de hombres, tzompantli

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

tzompan(tli), skull rack or a tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzompantli
pan(itl), flag, banner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/panitl
pam(itl), flag, banner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pamitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Estante de Cráneos

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 652v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=387&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: 
"ç" for z or tz
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Tzompan (MH627r)

tzompantli (Mdz35r)

tzompantli (TR26r)

Tzompan (MH873v)

Tzompan (MH784r)

Tzompan (MH784r)