Tecpanecatl (MH674v)

Tecpanecatl (MH674v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name or title, Tecpanecatl (perhaps, “Person Associated with the Tecpancalli, or Palace”), is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a bird’s eye view of a circle of blossoms crossed by what may be a reed/cane or a stick, to which the flower wreath is tied. This object might have a semantic association with the tecpan (palace). Much remains to be deciphered in this glyph.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Note some of the other objects (below) that are associated with this title and name. One shape, with a central M, recurs frequently, but it remains a puzzle. One has a stone (tetl) as a phonetic indicator. One has a flint knife (tecpatl) as a homophone/phonetic indicator. Tecpanecatl was a high title for a lord. It was also a name found across central Mexico. Sometimes this name is confused with the ethnicity Tepanecatl (or Tepaneca in the plural).

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

title/office

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Art, Design, Crafts, etc.

Flowers

Gender (male)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Occupations

Technology (all types), plus Tools

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

tied, bound, or bundled

circle, circular or rounded

bird's eye view

Keywords:

flores, palacios, oficios, títulos, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

Tecpanecatl, a name and a title, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpanecatl
tecpan, a ruler's palace, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpan
-ecatl (affiliation suffix), typically added to a place ending in -pan, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ecatl-0
tecpa(tl), a flint knife, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpatl
tecpancal(li), a palace or a royal home, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tecpancalli
Tepanecatl, an ethnicity, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepanecatl

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 674v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=429&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: