tomin tamchihuani (Osu13r)

tomin tamchihuani (Osu13r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This simplex glyph from the Codex Osuna, folio 13 recto (or Image 28), shows a scale for weighing money. The text that accompanies this glyph does not give it the Nahuatl title that we have applied. Rather, the title “tomin tamachihuani” draws from the Online Nahuatl Dictionary and the work of Alonso de Molina. The device for weighing is a bowl with a curved bottom. The pan or bowl was often metal, but this one is painted turquoise blue, perhaps a Nahua reference to the high value associated with the contents being weighed. Three cords are attached to the bowl, and they come together above the bowl in a knot with a loop.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Other examples of scales typically have two pans suspended to a horizontal bar, for seeing how things balance out. Two of them are personal names, which is perhaps something of a surprise.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Osuna, Codex (Osu)

Date of Manuscript:

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Metals, Minerals, Mining

Money, Coins, Prices

Rope, cord, string

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

blue (turquoise)

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

curving, curvy, curved

frontal view

tied, bound, or bundled

Keywords:

pesar, pesadores, monedas, dinero, tomines, balanzas, escalas, tlaoctacatiloni

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tomin tamachihuani, a scale for weighing money, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tomin-tamachihuani

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la balanza para pesar monedas

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

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.

Image Source, Rights:

"The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse." But please cite the Biblioteca Nacional de España and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs if you use any of these images here or refer to the content on this page, providing the URL.

Historical Contextualizing Image: