Xalaca (MH691r)

Xalaca (MH691r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Xalaca (perhaps “Sand Flea”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a sand flea (xalacatl) in profile, facing toward the viewer’s right. It has two antennas. Two of its legs are stretched forward, while the other legs are small and barely discernible. Its body is a dark color. Its eye is open wide, but just white.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Sand fleas can be either a crustacean in the family Talitridae or a type of flea known as the Tunga Penetrans. The antennas that appear on this glyph may suggest the crustacean is more likely. Two other sand flea glyphs come from this same manuscript, from folios 643 recto and 678 recto (below).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

filipe xallaca

Gloss Normalization: 

Felipe Xalaca

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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.
Gender (male)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

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

pulgas, arena, crustáceos, bichos, nombres de hombres

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

xalaca(tl), a sand flea, also an ethnicity, a plant, and a place name, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xalacatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Pulga de Arena

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 691r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=462&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: 
"ll" for l
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Xalacatl (MH643r)