Tlamauh (MH765r)

Tlamauh (MH765r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tlamauh is attested here as a man's name. The glyph is not glossed, so we are labeling it based upon comparisons with other glyphs similar to this one that are indeed glossed. This eye--relating to knowledge gained from experiential learning--has vestiges of the ancient starry or stellar eye, an eye that could double as a star. Some new features are the eyebrow, which suggests European stylistic influence. Also, the lower white of the eye is full of small X-shapes.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The name seems to derive from tlahmati, supposedly to "practice trickery or sorcery" (very close to tlamati, to know something). However, the translation of sorcery and trickery reveals a Christian bias on the part of the friar Alonso de Molina, and really the Nahuas saw the tlamauh as being wise, perhaps like a priest or a tlamatini. Supporting this, the use of the eye (ixtli) for the glyph calls forth the verb ixtlamati, to be wise, prudent. Furthermore, Marc Thouvenot (2010, 178–181) explains how iximati (which can become imati, to manage cleverly or create skillfully) compares to mati (to know). Imati involves knowing through seeing, much like conocer might indicate in Spanish, and mati is "to know" as in saber in Spanish. Once again, then, the eye glyph is a semantic indicator for a place of wisdom.

For other examples of the Tlamauh or Tlamauhco personal and place name glyphs, see below.

Added 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)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Education, Knowledge, Wisdom
Gender (male)
Nahuales, Sorcery, Divining
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle, circular or rounded
cross (x)
Keywords: 

conocimiento, sabio, acertado, prudente, nombres de hombres

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

tlamauh, wise one, knowledgeable person, or possibly sorcerer, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlamauh
tlamauh(tli), crazed, berzerk, or infected, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlamauhtli
ix(tli), eye, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ixtli
ixtlamati, to be wise, prudent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ixtlamati
tlamati, to know something, to jest, or to practice "sorcery" (verb), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlamati
tlamatini, a sage, wise person, scholar, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlamatini
tlama, someone knowledgeable, also a medico, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlama-0

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

El Sabio

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 765r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=608&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: 

Tlamauhco (MH660r)

Tlamauh (MH496r)