Ecacoacatl (MH763v)

Ecacoacatl (MH763v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name, title, or ethnicity, Ecacoacatl (perhaps “Whirlwind,” suggested by James Lockhart in The Nahuas, 1992, 120) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a vertical serpent (coatl) that is striped on the body and spotted on the head. It has a large eye and a small, protruding, bifurcated tongue. Above the tongue, at what might be the site of an upper lip, there is another protrusion; perhaps this is the buccal mask that relates to the divine force of wind (Ehecatl) being able to spray wind around the earth. The final part of the name (-catl, having to do with affiliation to a place but also found in some religious titles) is not shown visually.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The Eca- or Eheca- start to this name is represented more directly in the example of this name from folio 485 verso (see below). A great many glyphs in this collection start with Eca- when one might expect Eheca-. We are preserving the proclivity of the gloss for Eca-, while also pointing to the likelihood of an unintentional oral abbreviation of Eheca- to Eca-. The gloss here does not reduplicate the first syllable in Ecatl, a common personal name, but, just as with those names, this is likely a reference to Ehecatl, the divine force of wind and a day sign in the calendar. The serpent adds a significant meaning, of course, and the -catl suffix may refer to an ethnicity, a person from a specific place, and substituting for -co.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
day name
deity name/theonym
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Tongue Protruding/Noticeable
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
striped
spotted or mottled
wavy
bifurcated
profile view
facing right
Keywords: 

wind, viento, aliento, aire, serpents, snakes, serpientes, víboras, nombres de deidades, nombres de hombres, cohuatl

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

eca(tl), air/breath, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ecatl
eheca(tl), wind or the divine force associated with it, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ehecatl
coa(tl), snake/serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl
-catl (an affiliation suffix, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/catl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

posiblemente, Remolino

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 763v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=605&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).

Orthography: 
"v" for u, uh, or hu
intrusive "y"
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Ecacoacatl (MH485v)