Cuanahual (MH673v)

Cuanahual (MH673v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Cuanahual (“Head Shape-Shifting Spirit”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a profile view of a human head (cuaitl) looking toward the viewer’s right. On the head is a dark shape, looking something like a hat, but more likely meant to be a shape-shifting spirit (nahuall).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

If the nahualli was intentionally shaped like a hat, perhaps this represents an effort to disguise its supernatural significance. Note how the nahualli spirit is represented in various glyphs as having a placement on the human head, and this one is specifically pointing to that placement. In some other glyphs, the nahualli seems to be a cocoon or a caterpillar that will eventually be changing into perhaps a butterfly or moth.

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:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Religion (Indigenous)

Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

profile view

facing right

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

upward

Keywords:

nahuales, cabezas, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

cua(itl), the human head, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuaitl
cua-, having to do with the head, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cua
nahual(li), a shape-shifting spirit, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nahualli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Nahual de la Cabeza

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 673v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=427&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:

"u" for hu

Historical Contextualizing Image: