Tlaquehual (MH733v)

Tlaquehual (MH733v)
Simplex Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name or employment status, Tlaquehual (“Hired Hand”), is attested here as pertaining to a man. The glyph is simply an agricultural tool, the huictli or huitzoctli. It is a vertical, trapezoidal shape, broader at the top than the bottom. But, here, the digging-end is up and the handle-end is down. The Tlamaceuh and the Zacamol glyphs, below, show how the wider part sometimes goes down into the ground. But, for planting seeds, the sharp end is probably used.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text 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:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Agriculture, Gardens, Stock Raising

Labor Issues

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

pointed (see also spiky)

vertical, upright

Keywords:

coas, herramientas, trabajadores de campo, gañanes, nombres de hombres

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Comparisons:

Museum/Rare Book/Realia Notes:

This agricultural tool could be either a huictli (digging stick) or huitzoctli (tool for planting), as suggested in the museum signage. A tlaquehual is the kind of laborer who might use one of these. Photograph by Stephanie Wood, Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City, 15 February 2023.

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tlaquehual(li), hired hand, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlaquehualli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Trabajador de Campo

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 733v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=545&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: