Tecolotl (MH665v)

Tecolotl (MH665v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Tecolotl (“Owl”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows the head of an owl (tecolotl) in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. The owl has squared-off ears that evoke the “horned” adjective for the Great Horned Owl.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The squared-off ears are reminiscent, too, of the protrusions on the top of the heads of the nenetl (especially the deity figurines) and some of the Xolotl glyphs. For more on the role of the tecolotl in religious belief and the calendar, see Mexicolore.

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: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Feathers
Gender (male)
Mouth/Beak Open
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Religion (Indigenous)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black & white drawing (no color)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
facing right
profile view
Keywords: 

buhos, tecolotes, nombres de hombres

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

tecolo(tl), great horned owl, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecolotl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Tecolote

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 665v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=411&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: 
See Also: 

Nenetl (MH632r)

Xolotl (MH638v)

Xolohua (MH661r)

Texolohua (MH553r)

Tecolotl (MH685v)