Cipac (MH769v)

Cipac (MH769v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Cipac ("Crocodile") is attested here as a man's name. The sign shows an upright wavy object with five triangular obsidian points on their sides, pointing toward the viewer's right. These points seem attached to the wavy object. The image does not resemble an object, but it seems to connect the rough exterior of a crocodile with obsidian points.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Does this stylized glyph convey a cosmic perception? The cosmic perceptions of reptiles by Nahuas of the Sierra Norte of Puebla enter into a free, online study by Pierre Beaucage (et al), "Les reptiles dans les savoirs et l’imaginaire des Nahuas/Maseualmej de la Sierra Norte de Puebla (Mexique)," Recherches amérindiennes au Québec 49:3 (December 2020):17-28.
Cipactli is a day name in the religious divinatory calendar of 260 days, the tonalpohualli. Perhaps this stylized version is meant to disguise that the family who named their baby this were still consulting the calendar, a practice that some friars had hoped to root out. Alternatively, because the crocodile was a double for a the divine force or deity, Tonacatecuhtli, creator of the universe and the human race, this glyph could represent that divine force instead of the crocodile. See Anastasia Kalyuta's article in Mexicolore.

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

po çiphac

Gloss Normalization: 

Pedro Cipac

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Keywords: 

cocodrilos, caimanes, dragones, cuchillos, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Cocodrilo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 769v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=613&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: