Imacehual (MH686r)

Imacehual (MH686r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Imacehual (perhaps short for imacehualli, “Feather Fan for Dancing,” attested here as a man’s name) shows a device that might be held in the hand (maitl, perhaps the reason behind the -ma- in the name). Macehua and macehualiztli are terms that refer to dancing.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This is a deceptive noun. It appears to be the noun macehualli in a possessed form. That could have many readings, relating to a commoner, an Indigenous person, or someone with merit who is deserving. In fact, however, it might not be possessed at all, but is an apocopation for the unpossessed noun imacehualli, having something to do with dance. And the glyphs all seem to show hand-held feather fans.

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:

Feathers

Gender (male)

Music, Song, Dance

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Personality, Behavior

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Keywords:

devisas, bailar, danzas, plumas, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

imacehual(li), a hand-held feather fan carried by dancers, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/imacehualli
i- (third person singular possessive), his, her, or its, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/i
macehual(li), commoner or an indigenous person, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/macehualli
mahcehual(li), merit, recompense, fortune, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mahcehualli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

posiblemente, abanico de plumas para bailar

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 686r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=452&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: