Tzihuacmitl (MH661v)

Tzihuacmitl (MH661v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Tzihuacmitl (“Agave-Stalk Arrow”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph combines an agave stalk (tzihuactli) with a barbed arrow (mitl), separating the two somewhat, perhaps to clarify that this is a certain kind of arrow, made with the stalk of the agave known as the tzihuactli.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

See the image from the Florentine Codex, below, showing the agaves that are called tzihuactli. Sometimes the tzihuactli glyphs look like trunks where branches have been removed in a haphazard way, leaving short stumps. The appearance of a tree trunk may be employed to complement the glyph with a (“cua” phonetic syllable that is much like the “hua” syllable).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Source Manuscript:

Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)

Date of Manuscript:

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories:

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Gender (male)

Hunting and Fishing

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Weapons, Shields, Armor

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

pointed (see also spiky)

vertical, upright

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

flechas, agaves, tallos, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tzihuacmi(tl), arrow made from an agave stalk, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzihuacmitl
tzihuac(tli), small agave with a spiny flower stalk, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzihuactli
mi(tl), arrow, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Flecha del Tallo de Agave

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 661v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=403&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: