Cualoc (MH783v)
This simplex glyph represents the personal name, Cualoc (perhaps "Eaten," "Bitten," or "Eclipsed"). It shows, in black line drawings, part of a human face with a focus on the mouth, which is open and teeth are protruding. The face is shown in profile facing to the viewer's right. A hand grasps something rounded, perhaps a tortilla, or perhaps the sun, up near the open mouth. It is as though the person is about to eat (cua). The haircut suggests a male figure.
Stephanie Wood
A grasping hand can sometimes stand for the phonetic “hua.” Cualohua, the verb referring to an eclipse, is cualoc in the past tense, eclipsed. Combined with the noun for the sun, tonatiuh, the literal meaning is the sun was eaten (got dark, became eclipsed). Hence, this name may refer to this celestial phenomenon, unless it literally refers to some food having been eaten. It is possible that "Eaten" or "Bitten," could be metaphorical. Some other examples of the preterit verb cualoc.
Stephanie Wood
anto qualloc.
Antonio Cualoc
Stephanie Wood
1560
Jeff Haskett-Wood
comer, comida, eclipse, nombres de hombres
cualohua, for an eclipse to take place, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cualohua
cua, to eat or bite, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cua
tonatiuh cualo, for the sun to eclipse, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tonatiuh-cualo
posiblemente, Comido o Eclipsado
Stephanie Wood
Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 783v, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=661&st=image.
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).
