Ahuatlacotlan (RGTyM17)

Ahuatlacotlan (RGTyM17)
Compound Hieroglyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This is a black-line drawing of the compound Nahuatl hieroglyph for place name Ahuatlacotlan ("Place of the Thorny Sticks"), a translation by Barbara E. Mundy, in The Mapping of New Spain (1996, 147). The compound shows a hill or mountain (tepetl), which seems to serve as a visual but silent locative. On top of this hill is a cluster of vertical sticks (tlacotl) with thorns (ahuatl).

Gloss or Text Image:

Source Manuscript:

Tistla y Muchitlan, RG Map of (RGTyM)

Date of Manuscript:

1582

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Tzompanco (contemporary Zumpango del Río, Guerrero), with a connection to the Diocese of Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala

Semantic Categories:

place name

Syntax:

locative (visual but silent)

Writing Features:

compound fully logographic

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Landscape Features

Names (places)

Plants, Flora

Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods

Wood, wooden things

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

black & white drawing (no color)

Shapes and Perspectives:

bell-shaped (upright)

frontal view

vertical, upright

Parts (compounds or simplex + notation):

Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation):

downward

Keywords:

sticks, palos, hills, cerros, mountain, montañas, pueblos, topónimos, nombres de lugares, place names

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

ahua(tl), thorns, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ahuatl
tlaco(tl), sticks, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlacotl
-tlan (locative suffix), near, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tlan

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

Cerca de los Palos Espinosos

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

The source of these hieroglyphs is a manuscript and map known collectively as the “Relación de Tistla y Muchitlan,” also known as the “Descripción de la Alcaldia Mayor de las Minas de Zumpango.” Apparently, these towns (today spelled Tixtla and Mochitlan) are in the modern-day state of Guerrero, but they fell under the religious jurisdiction of the Diocese of Tlaxcala. Thanks go to Octavio Márquez for his contribution of the glyph, gloss, and contextualizing images.

Image Source, Rights:

The original manuscript is hosted on line as part of the Benson Latin American Collection, The General Libraries, University of Texas at Austin, https://collections.lib.utexas.edu/catalog/utblac:fbc92b3e-bb28-4258-975.... It is open-access.

Historical Contextualizing Image: