Cempohualxochitl (MH796r)

Cempohualxochitl (MH796r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Cempohalxoch (“Marigold”) is attested here as a woman’s name. The glyph shows a single flower in a frontal view. It has a three-part base and two rows of petals, getting wider as it goes up.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The first part of the flower name cempohualxochitl (cempohualli, twenty), seems to refer to the profusion of petals of the marigold flower. This is one of various flower names for women in this collection. Women's names in this collection are nevertheless rare compared to men's, because married women and daughters are represented by the male head of household, the person responsible for most tribute payments. But the proportion of women's names with a flower component (-xoch-) is much greater than men's names. The examples of men’s names (below) that refer to flowers derive from their having been born on the day of the flower in the religious divinatory calendar, the tonalpohualli.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

martharenā cepovalxochitl

Gloss Normalization: 

Magdalena Cempohualxochitl

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla

Semantic Categories: 
Syntax: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
Keywords: 

flores, maravillas, cempasúchil, nombres de mujeres

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Cenpasúchil

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 796r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=666&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: