apantli (Mdz40r)

apantli (Mdz40r)
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, Tzilacaapan. This waterway has horizontal black lines of current of varying thicknesses. The emblematic turbinate shells and droplets splash off the top of the water. The canal's liner, which gives it some structure, is red and it is shown in a cross-section view. The overall shape is trapezoidal, again emphasizing something constructed rather than natural.

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: 
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: 
Movement
Shells
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
red
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
trapezoidal
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
cross-sectioned object
Keywords: 

water, shells, agua, conchas, 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 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: 

Tzilacaapan (Mdz40r)

apantli (Mdz37r)

apantli (Mdz43r)

apantli (Mdz39r)

apantli (Mdz39r)