Coanen (MH886r)

Coanen (MH886r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Coanen (“Idle Serpent," "Serpent-Divine Force Image," or "Serpent-Doll,”) is attested here as a woman's name. It shows a snake or serpent (coatl) in an undulating horizontal pose, head down, forked tongue, body spotted and undulating. At the top of the snake is the head of a nenetl symbol, which can refer to a figurine of a divine force, a doll, or female genitals. The -nen- syllable is typically a phonetic indicator, translated as "useless," "lazy," or "idle."

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

There are other compound glyphs in this collection for Coanen. Those shown below are all names of women, and all the compounds here include serpents and nenetl figures. One of the nenetl heads looks more like a doll than the others.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

françisca covanē

Gloss Normalization: 

Francisca Coanen

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
Writing Features: 
compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals: Reptiles
Gender (female)
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Tongue Protruding/Noticeable
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
bifurcated
curving, curvy, curved
frontal view
spotted or mottled
Keywords: 

serpents, snakes, serpientes, culebras, víboras, esculturas, sculptures, figurillas, dolls, muñecas, ixiptla, nenetl, inútiles, cohuatl, viudas, viejas, nombres de princesas, nombres de mujeres

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

coa(tl), snake or serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl
nene(tl), a figurine of a divine force, a doll, or female genitals, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/nenetl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Serpiente Inútil, o Serpiente-Muñeca, o Serpiente-Imagen Divina

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 886r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=844&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: 
"çi" for ci
"v" for u, uh, or hu
Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Coanen (MH600r)

Coanen (MH633r)

Coanen (MH633v)