Acamapichtli (Mdz2v)
This compound glyph for the personal name Acamapichtli shows a vertical forearm with a fist (mapichtli) that is clutching two reed arrows (acatl). The arrows are red and yellow with gray and white feathers attached. The arm and (left) hand (maitl) are flesh toned, more tan than the usual terracotta color.
Stephanie Wood
The "ma" of Acamapichtli not only comes from the fist, but from the hand. It could also be read as "ma" for take, capture. The reeds are largely yellow, but with red ends and decorations of dark gray or brown eagle feathers and white down feathers, which is the version of acatl that coincides with the arrow (mitl), but the phonetics of mitl do not enter into the name.
Stephanie Wood
acamapich
Acamapich, or Acamapichtli
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
The word mapichtli, fist, also contains ma(itl), hand/arm, but the visual only appears once.
The arrows are merged with the hand. As second interpretation could be that the reed-arrows (acatl) are grabbed by the hand, making the reading outward.
rulers' names, Tenochtitlan, reeds, cañas, carrizos, plants, arrows, darts, flechas, dardas, nombres de personas famosas, nombres de hombres, nombres de gobernantes
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Acamapichtli%281%292vGlyph_0%20copy.png?itok=uJantt41)
Acamapich(tli), first ruler of Tenochtitlan, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/acamapichtli
aca(tl), reed(s) or arrow(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/acatl
ma(itl), hand or arm, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/maitl
mapich(tli), fist, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mapichtli
ma, take or capture, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ma-0
mi(tl), arrow, dart, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/mitl
Agarra Flechas?
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 2 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 15 of 188.
The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/Acamapichtli%281%292vContextShot%20%282%29.png)