Ecatepec (TR26r)

Ecatepec (TR26r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Ecatepec includes a sign for Ehecatl the divine force (or deity) of the wind sitting on top of a green mountain (-tepec) with curly rocky outcroppings on the slopes and a white horizontal band at the base. The representation of Ehecatl looks something like a bird's head in profile, facing toward the viewer's right. It has a long narrow beak filled with sharp teeth, with the beak slightly open and an additional, hefty protrusion above this thin beak. One (open) eye is visible. Around the perimeter of the head are what may be five small, round down feathers. In the middle of the green mountain or hill is another bird head, perhaps a rooster or chicken (European), or a turkey (Indigenous), also in profile, also facing toward the viewer's right.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

Gabrielle Vail and ‎Christine Hernández (Re-Creating Primordial Time, 2013, ) describe Ehecatl as the wind aspect of Quetzalcoatl, and they note that Ehecatl "wears a buccal (duck) mask through which to blow wind." That the "beak" may have been perceived as a blowing device is supported by the glyph for Pitztli (below).

A great many glyphs in this collection start with Eca- when one might expect Eheca-. We are preserving the proclivity of the gloss for Eca-, while also pointing to the likelihood of an unintentional oral abbreviation of Eheca- to Eca-.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

hecatepetl

Gloss Normalization: 

Ecatepec

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Date of Manuscript: 

ca. 1550–1563

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

En el Cerro de Ehecatl

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Telleriano-Remensis Codex, folio 26 recto, MS Mexicain 385, Gallica digital collection, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8458267s/f77.item.zoom

Image Source, Rights: 

The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: