campana (Osu8v)
This is an iconographic detail of three church bells that some Nahuas of Mexico City had to make for the church of San Pablo at the order of the Provisor Bachiller Moreno. The bells are included here for the purpose of making comparisons with hieroglyphs of bells in this collection. These bells have a flared mouth with a clapper just visible. They have loops at the top for hanging. Two horizontal lines a way below the loop would appear to be decorative. The bells are all connected by a line that also connects to the Provisor (Spanish colonial official). The use of a connecting line may hint that these are glyphs. The name of the Provisor was also written by a Nahua, which is suggested by its spelling (“murenu”).
Stephanie Wood
There is no Nahuatl text that refers specifically to this detail of bells. The gloss comes from a Spanish text. That said, campana was a loan that entered Nahuatl from Spanish. Nahuas, of course, had their own metal bells prior to contact. The type of metals, sizes, and shapes were different. But Nahuas learned easily to make the larger church bells at the order of Spanish colonial officials.
Stephanie Wood
1551–1565
Jeff Haskett-Wood
campanas, trabajo, ciudad, provisores, oficiales coloniales, oficios
campana, bell (a loanword from Spanish), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/campana
campana
Stephanie Wood
Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico (Pintura del Gobernador, Alcaldes y Regidores de México), https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.
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