Tetzauh (MH795r)

Tetzauh (MH795r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tetzauh ("Omen" or "Something Frightening") is attested here as a man's name. The glyph is built onto the head of the tax payer in the census. To his face have been aded criss-crossing lines, perhaps face paint.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Glyphs for tetzauh vary widely, as the examples below will show. One glyph appears to be a devil image. Others are more abstract. This is something to track with more examples to see if there are patterns in the variants. Two compound glyphs have a fully phonetic rendering of tetzauh, with a stone and a spindle. These are both from the Matrícula de Huexotzinco, from folios 647 verso and 651 recto.

The face paint could be a type of "othering," meant here to suggest that he is frightening, but further research is required. In other cases, face paint has also been suggested to serve as a "hua" syllable, and here it might be for the final syllable of tezahua.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

miguer tetzauh

Gloss Normalization: 

Miguel Tetzauh

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: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Face Paint or Tattoos
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Race, Ethnicity, Identity
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
checked, cross-hatched, or mesh
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

nombres de hombres, aguero, algo espantoso, cara pintada

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

tetzahui(tl), a frightening thing, an omen, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetzahuitl
te(tl), stone, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tetl-0
tzahua, to spin, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzahua
tzauhqui, a spinner, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzauhqui
tzahualiz(tli), the act of spinning (such as yarn or thread), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzahualiztli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Presagio

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 795r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=664&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: 
"r" for l
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Otomitl (Mdz3v)

otomitl (MH553r)

Chichimecamani (MH490r)

Tetzauh (MH592r)

Tetzauh (MH627v)

Tetzauh (MH647v)

Tetzauh (MH831v)

Tetzauh (MH733r)