apantli (Mdz20r)

apantli (Mdz20r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element of a canal (apantli) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Acapan. This cross-section shows a thick red lining for the water channel. The top edges curl away from the water. The water is a turquoise blue.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

This canal shape is reminiscent of the containers for the acatl (reed, cane) plant that is often used in calendars. See below. It is quite different from the yellow and green liners that have hash marks, also exemplified below.

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)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
red
Shapes and Perspectives: 
cross-sectioned object
Keywords: 

water, agua, canales, construcción

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

apan(tli), water channel or canal, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/apantli
pan(tli), furrow, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pantli
-apan (locative suffix), on the water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/apan-0
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
-pan (locative suffix), on, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pan

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

water channel

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el canal, o en la orilla del agua

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 20 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 50 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: 

Acapan (Mdz20r)

Ce Acatl (Mdz2r)

apantli (Mdz39r)

apantli (Mdz37r)