a woman's name; a legendary woman who led the migration from Aztlan after departing Chicomoztoc, and one who carried the devices of a deity
The Codex Aubin (on the page featuring One Flint Knife) shows a portrait of Chimalman. There is an unusual hand that appears on her huipil. This may well be a phonetic indicator for the -man ending to her name (from -mani, in the sense of "in the manner of." If so, the hand has been misunderstood as having a meaning such as "giver." It is not at all unusual in Nahuatl for a final "n" to drop off a name or really any word, resulting in the appearance of this woman's name as Chimalma at times. Other names ending in -man, from -mani, which feature a hand in their hieroglyphic form, include Xiloman, Toliman, and ochiman, among others. (Stephanie Wood)
yn huallaque ce cihuatl ytoca chimalma. ompa quihualhuicaque yn aztlan chicocca hualquiztiaque ynic hualnenenque = As they came, as they arrived hither when they emerged from the seven places in Aztlan, they brought a woman named Chimalman. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Chimalma = Shield giver, a name for girls
(Does this presume that maitl, for hand, is a part of the formula, which implies the meaning of giving? SW)
Chimalman = One-who-has-sat-like-a-shield, from chimalli, shield, and mani, to extend, to be, or to be sitting, said of flat-bottomed surfaces. The translators of the Treatise on Heathen Superstitions say that the translation using "hand" (from maitl) does not apply because the syllable has a final "n," as seen in the Leyenda de los soles. They say that Chimalman was the mother of Quetzalcoatl and the wife of Mixcoatl in classical times.
quin oncan quihualantiquizque in Diablo tetzahuitl Huitzilopochtli in huallaque ce cihuatl itoca Chimalma ompaqui hualhuicaque in Aztlan Chicocca hualquiztiaque inic hualnenenque. = después salieron de allá para acá asiendo al "diablo Tetzahuitl Huitzilopochtli"; cuando vinieron, trajeron de Aztlan Chicoccan a una mujer llamada Chimalma, cuando salieron y caminaron hacia aquí. [después de allá hacia acá salieron tomando al "diablo Tetzahuitl Huitzilopochtli"; cuando vinieron, de allá trajeron una mujer de nombre Chimalma, cuando vinieron a salir Aztlan Chicoccan, cuando caminaron hacia acá.] (centro de Mexico, s. XVII)