Acolhuacan (Mdz5v)

Acolhuacan is the "Place of the Ācolhua" (possibly comprised of water, ātl, and bend, cōlli, and the possessor suffix, -huah. The Acolhua are an ethnic group associated with the area of Tetzcoco, hence the overlapping glyphs between Acolhuacan and Tetzcoco. This version of the place name Acolhuacan (on folio 5 verso of the Codex Mendoza) is somewhat different from the other one on folio 21 verso. This one is very similar to the compound glyph for Tetzcoco from folio 3 verso, below on the right. In the Acolhuacan glyph pictured here, the shoulder, acōlli, has fewer color codes or adornments than other Acolhuacan glyphs or the Tetzcoco glyph from the Codex Mendoza. The water, ātl, colored turquoise again here, does protrude near the shoulder bone, in a similar fashion to the other one. The main difference between Acolhuacan on 21v and on 5v is the presence of the attached mountain, tepetl, with three peaks, as though divided by ravines (atlauhtli), and decorated with stone symbols (tetl). Karttunen suggests the twisted lines on the hill are meant to provide the phonetic -cōl (twisted). She also points out that the hill or mountain symbol (tepetl) can stand for town (altepetl), but probably not in this case, given the multiple peaks and wavy lines. A yellow and red flower with a green stem emerges atop the middle of the three peaks. None of these signs are part of the compound glyph for Acolhuacan on folio 21 verso, but the flower does echo the same element in the compound sign for Tetzcoco, although the latter has two flowers, one above each ravine.