Malteotl (MH832r)
This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Malteotl (perhaps "Captive Deity" or a thigh bone wrapped in paper and wearing a mask) is attested here as a man's name. It shows a right hand (maitl) reaching in from the left. In the hand is a disproportionately small, naked, male captive (malli) in a seated position, in profile, facing right, with its hands and feet going forward. The -teotl (divinity) part of the name is not shown visually.
Stephanie Wood
Before captives were offered in human sacrifice in honor of the divine forces (teotl), the captives could be stripped naked. (See Enrique René Martínez, Encounter of Two Worlds, 1992, 217.)
Stephanie Wood
juā malteotl
Juan Malteotl
Stephanie Wood
1560
Jeff Haskett-Wood
desnudo, cautivo, víctima, sacrificio, ofrenda, nombres de hombres
malteo(tl), the "god-captive", https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/malteotl
mai(tl), hand or arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl
mal(li), a captive or prisoner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/malli
teo(tl), a divine or sacred force, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/teotl
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 832r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=738&st=image
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