Mayan (MH827r)

Mayan (MH827r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Mayan (perhaps “He Was Hungry”) is attested here as a man’s name. It shows a hand (maitl), which serves as a phonetic indicator that the name starts with Ma-, holding a piece of fruit, a small tortilla, or some other type of food up to the face of the tribute payer himself. Short lines emanate from his lips, perhaps he is salivating or drooling with hunger for the food item.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The gloss here simply says Maya, but the visual suggests the verb mayana, to be hungry, which would be truncated as Mayan. Since the letter “n” often drops away or intrudes inadvertently, it is easy to imagine that this name should be Mayan. This is a somewhat unusual name, but there are other examples. We also have an example of the iconography of a famine, mayanalo.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

franco maya

Gloss Normalization: 

Francisco Mayan

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: 
verb
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Food, Eating, Cooking
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
shading and parallel line hatching
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
right to left
Keywords: 

comida, hambre, nombres de hombres

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

mayana, to be hungry, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mayana
mayanalo, one is hungry, everyone is hungry, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mayanalo

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Tuvo Hambre

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 827r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=728&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: 

Mayan (MH724v)

Mayan (MH674v)

mayanalo (TR32r)

Quizacuahua (MH722r)