Achiotlan (Mdz15v)

Achiotlan (Mdz15v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

The compound glyph for the place name Achiotlan consists of two parts, a bowl of achiotl) (achiote in Spanish, which is a red culinary spice) and two teeth with gums (tlantli), the phonetic indicator for the locative suffix, -tlan (near). The achiote consists of small round red balls of the spice in a trapezoidal container that is colored terracotta.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image:

Gloss Diplomatic Transcription:

achiotlan. pu^o

Gloss Normalization:

Achiotlan, pueblo

Gloss Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)

Date of Manuscript:

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

locative (visual not silent)

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Anatomy, human body parts

Food, Eating, Cooking

Names (places)

Plants, Flora

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

orange/terracotta

red

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

trapezoidal

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

seeds, foods, seasonings, spices

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

achio(tl), a seasoning/spice, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/achiotl
-tlan (locative suffix), place, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan

Karttunen’s Interpretation:

"Achiote Place" [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

"Where There is Much Achiotl" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. 168)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

"El Lugar del Achiote"

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 15 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 41 of 188.

Image Source, Rights:

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).