ahuatl (Mdz40r)

ahuatl (Mdz40r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Ahuatzitzinco. The sign features an oak tree (ahuatl) with a leader and one additional branch (bending to our right). The green foliage at the end of each branch has water spouting from it. So, this is an element from a compound glyph, but it still has two elements and a downward reading order.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The ahuatl (oak tree) is something of a compound glyph in itself. It is a fairly generic tree that might be taken for cuahuitl except for the spouting water from the greenery. Normally, the trees that have the black diagonal stripes running across their trunks are meant to be read "cuauh" (from cuahuitl). This is an exception.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Plants, Flora
Shells
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
green (dark)
green (light)
orange/terracotta
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
curving, curvy, curved
Parts (of compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
downward
Keywords: 

trees, oaks, ahuatl, water, shells, encinos, robles, agua, caracoles

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

ahua(tl), oak tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ahuatl
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

oak tree

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el roble

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 40 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 90 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).

See Also: 

Ahuatzitzinco (Mdz40r)

ahuatl (Mdz21v)