Atenco (Mdz27r)

Atenco (Mdz27r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Atenco varies slightly from the one on folio 51 recto of the Codex Mendoza. This one shows a partial face [emphasizing the lips, tentli) inside a body of water. The lower lip protrudes somewhat, calling attention to itself. The shape of the water suggests a structured waterway or canal, apantli, shown in a cross-section view, with its trapezoidal shape and yellow border, but in this case only water (atl) is meant. The water is a standard turquoise blue with wavy black lines of different thicknesses (the one in the middle especially thick), suggesting currents. The -co locative suffix is not shown visually.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The other glyph we have for Atenco, does not employ an apantli, just a simple atl) element (plus -ten- from tentli, again) as can be seen below and to the right in this record. The reading of lips is not literal here; rather, the intention is more "edge," i.e. at the edge of the water.

Karttunen also recognizes that the apantli is not intended as such in this glyph.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

atenco. puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Atenco, pueblo

Gloss 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

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
locative (not visual)
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Names (places)
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black
blue (sky blue)
blue (turquoise)
orange/terracotta
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
curving, curvy, curved
cross-sectioned object
trapezoidal
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
front to back
Keywords: 

water, lips, edges, aguas, orillas, labios, bordes

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

a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
ten(tli), lip or edge, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tentli
-tenco (locative suffix), at the edge, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/tenco
apan(tli), water channel/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
-pan (locative suffix), on, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/pan

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

"On the Shore" (finding no fault with the Berdan and Anawalt interpretation) [Frances Karttunen, unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

"At the Water's Edge" [Whittaker, 2021, 105; "On the Shore" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. 172)

Whittaker's Transliteration: 

A2•TEN.

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

"En la Orilla del Agua"

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 27 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 64 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: 

atl (Mdz18r)

Atenco (Mdz51r)

atl (Mdz27r)