Tzocuitla (MH908r)

Tzocuitla (MH908r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Tzocuitla (perhaps “Sweat”) is attested here as a woman’s name. The glyph shows a three-petaled flower (xochitl), which perhaps provides a homophonic-phonetic indicator for the start to the name, Tzo-. If the tripartite element is not a flower, it could be the end of a stone (tetl), but the name does not contain a -te- syllable. Surrounding the flower might be a bundle of strips of cloth (zotl), which might also be a homophonic-phonetic indicator or complement for the start to the name. The -cuitla ending to the name is not obviously presented visually.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This decipherment of the elements of the compound hieroglyph is tentative, but the name most certainly relates to sweat, contemporary Western standards, but perhaps bodily excrescences were considered something special in Nahua culture. Remember, teocuitlatl (gold) was divine excrement.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

matalena tzocuitla

Gloss Normalization:

Magdalena Tzocuitla

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:

homophony, rebus

personal name

Syntax:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

compound fully phonographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Cleanliness, Orderliness, and their absence

Flowers

Gender (female)

Names (personal and/or theonym)

Textiles, Clothing, Hats, Regalia

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

tripartite

Keywords:

sudor, transpiración, suciedad, nombres de mujeres

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

tzocuitla(tl), thick body sweat, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tzocuitlatl  zo(tl), cloth or rags, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/zotl 
xoch(itl), flowers, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl  
cuitla(tl), excrement, excrescence, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/cuitlatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Sudor 

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 908r, World Digital Library, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=886&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:

"t" for gd

Historical Contextualizing Image: