apantli (Mdz7v)

apantli (Mdz7v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element of an apantli (water channel or canal) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Totolapan (see below). It is a cross-section view of the canal, with its yellow liner and trapezoidal shape, both suggesting some degree of construction meant to contain the water, which is a turquoise blue with black lines of varying thickness that suggest current or flow (movement). Splashing off the top of the water are a droplet and a turbinate shell, classic emblems of water in Nahua hieroglyphics.

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.

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

water, shells, agua, conchas, 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

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

el canal

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 7 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 25, 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: 

Totolapan (Mdz7v)

apantli (Mdz39r)

apantli (Mdz37r)