apantli (Mdz50r)

apantli (Mdz50r)
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, Aztaapan (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 a turbinate shell 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: 

In the compound, this element played a phonetic role, but here we will just call it a logogram. 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, or 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: 
Shells
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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

water, shells, conchas, caracolillos, 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 la zanja con agua

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 50 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 110 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: 

Aztaapan (Mdz50r)

apantli (Mdz37r)

apantli (Mdz43r)

apantli (Mdz39r)

apantli (Mdz39r)