PLace-names in mexico-TenochTiTLan • 139respective patrons. As described by the linguist Gordon
Whittaker, Nahuatl script “consists of a powerful mix of (a)
morpheme signs (morphograms), most of which represent
words and are, accordingly, known as logograms or word
signs, and of (b) phonetic signs (phonograms) employed in
varying proportions according to the whims of scribes and
the dictates of circumstance.” 27
In keeping with the general character of iconic scripts
known worldwide, the signs used to convey words (logo-
grams) are often images: a picture of a dog, izquintli, yielded
a phonetic reading of izquintli, which we call a logogram
because the sign (dog/izquintli) produces a reading of an
entire word (izquintli). While phonetic readings that a sign
produced were standard, the meaning was not, which is
to say that the same sign could be read as a logograph or
a phonograph or could produce a conventional reading.
Thus, in some cases, as in the name “Huanitzin” (see fig-
ures 5.1 and 5.2), the sign of a banner was a phonograph,
producing the phonetic reading of panitl, understood as
huanitl. In fact, the banner most frequently functioned as
phonogram, dropping its absolutive suffix of -itl, to convey
pan, which when used as a suffix meant “upon.” 28 In the
map of figure 7.4, we see the four banners in the field and
they produce a conventional reading, as the banner is also
the symbol for twenty, although bearing little relation to
the word for twenty (cempohualli).
Turning to the personal names on the map in figure
7.4, reproduced in detail as figure 7.5, we see how Nahuatl
scribes grappled with the influx of new Spanish names that
were given to commoners upon their baptism. The alpha-
betic documents that accompanied this map identify the
names of these two figures: he is Lázaro Pantecatl, and in
rendering his name, the scribe has not included his Spanish
name, “Lázaro,” and has provided only the first syllable of
his Nahuatl name, which means “resident of the place of
the banners.” The map includes the panitl sign used as a
logograph for “banner.” In contrast, for the name of his wife,
Ana Tepi, the scribe has chosen to write only her Christian
name, which is rendered with phonographs: a water symbol
(a[tl]) is grasped by a hand (ma[itl]), yielding a-ma, or Ana,
the m shifting to an n sound. Thus, in rendering appellatives
such as place-names or personal names, like “Pantecatl” orfiguRe 7.4. Unknown creator, map of the properties of Lázaro
Pantecatl and Ana Tepi, ca. 1567. Archivo General de la Nación,
Mexico, Tierras 20, pte. 1, exp. 3, fol. 256v.