apantli (Mdz32r)

apantli (Mdz32r)
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, Huitzitzilapan (see below). This waterway has horizontal black lines of current of varying thicknesses, suggestive of movement. The canal's liner, which gives it some structure, is yellow and it is shown in a cross-section view. The overall shape is trapezoidal, again suggesting that it is a constructed waterway and not natural. A droplet and two turbinate shells splash off the top of the water. Their placement has been affected by the fact that an object was removed from the middle of the original compound glyph, but they are emblematic of the iconography for water.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The apantli glyph or element can have a wide range of color combinations for the lining around the water, while the representation of the water remains much the same (but with or without the splashes coming off the top). The lining can be a single color (red, yellow, or green), or it can be two or three colors. See some examples below.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Syntax: 
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Shapes and Perspectives: 
Keywords: 

water, shells, agua, conchas, construcción, canales

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 
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 32 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 74 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).