Santa María (Osu38r)

Santa María (Osu38r)
Simplex Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This painted simplex Nahuatl hieroglyph represents the place name Santa María. It is a gold crown, very European in style. In Christianity, St. Mary was believed to have been given a crown by Jesus Christ, and she wore it as queen of heaven and Earth. This one is open at the top.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This hieroglyph, if we can call it that, borrows from Christian iconography, although crowns can vary somewhat (as seen below). The crown here might be considered a "loan glyph." The gloss includes a "c" in the middle of Santa, which is an archaic or Latinate orthography. For other saints' names in this collection that have interesting iconography, see below. Many of them come from the Codex Sierra Texupa.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss or Text Image:

Gloss/Text Diplomatic Transcription:

Sancta maria

Gloss/Text Normalization:

Santa María

Gloss/Text Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Osuna, Codex (Osu)

Date of Manuscript:

1551–1565

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

place name

Grammar & Linguistics:

noun(s)

Writing Features:

simplex or element as logogram

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Jewelry, Crowns, or other Adornment

Metals, Minerals, Mining

Names (places)

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

yellow or golden

Shapes and Perspectives:

frontal view

Keywords:

nombres de lugares, topónimos, topónimo, place names, santa, santas, santo, santos, corona, coronas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

santo, saint (can be masculine or feminine, santa), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/santo

Image Source:

Library of Congress Online Catalog and the World Digital Library, Osuna Codex, or Painting of the Governor, Mayors, and Rulers of Mexico, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07324/. The original is located in the Biblioteca Nacional de España.

Image Source, Rights:

"The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse." But please cite the Biblioteca Nacional de España and this Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs if you use any of these images here or refer to the content on this page, providing the URL

Orthography:

intrusive "c"

Historical Contextualizing Image: