Tepolchil (MH852r)

Tepolchil (MH852r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the simplex glyph for the personal name Telpolchil (perhaps “Chile Penis” or “Red Penis”) is attested here as a man’s name. The glyph shows a frontal view of an upright chile pepper, with the stem end down. It is not painted a color (such as red).

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The “chil” element in compound can refer to the color red. This name, which refers to male genitals, is the first of its type, now more than four years into building this visual lexicon (early 2025). Chile peppers were sometimes metaphors for penises. According to Gustavo Corral (in his article, "A Chile is Never Just a Chile" (2015) published in Empire and Colonialism, Food and Sexuality, Latin American Sexualities, https://notchesblog.com/2015/09/24/sex-and-food-in-mexico/) "The linkage of the chile with eroticism and the penis can be found in the writings of the early Spanish chroniclers." In the MH, except in references to tribute items/food, chiles are often shown standing up.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

ju^o tepulchil

Gloss Normalization:

Juan Tepolchil

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:

Anatomy, human body parts

Gender (male)

Metaphors, Proverbs, Riddles

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Sexuality, Fertility

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

pointed (see also spiky)

vertical, upright

Keywords:

penes, chiles, rojos, puntiagudo, nombres de hombres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tepol(li), penis, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tepolli
chil(li), chile pepper, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/chilli

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Pene Como un Chile

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 852r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=776&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:

"u" for o

Historical Contextualizing Image: