Chichimecatl (MH735r)

Chichimecatl (MH735r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This is a black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name or ethnicity Chichimecatl (“A Chichimec”). The glyph consists of a man’s head in profile, looking toward the viewer’s right. The man’s cheek has a thick black vertical line that intersects half way with a shorter horizontal line. Other, thinner lines intersect with these to form something of a grid pattern.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

When comparing this glyph to other Chichimec-related glyphs, one will notice two things especially, the grid-like face paint and the way the bow and arrow represents an ethnicity. In this digital collection, face paint or tattooing has ethnic associations, involving Chichimecs, the Otomí, the Tlaxcalteca, and those who were “different” (e.g. the Tlamaca). Divine forces, such as Ecatl (or Ehecatl) and Xolotl, also have some face paint or tattoos.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

Juā
chichimecatl

Gloss Normalization:

Juan Chichimecatl

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:

Face Paint or Tattoos

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Race, Ethnicity, Identity, Othering

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing right

profile view

Keywords:

nombres de hombres, pintura en la cara, etnicidades, Chichimecas, arco y flecha

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Chichimecatl, a Chichimeca, Indigenous person from the North, ancestor of the Mexica, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chichimecatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

(una persona Chichimeca)

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 735r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=548&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: