atl (Mdz24v)

atl (Mdz24v)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This simplex glyph for water (atl) doubles as the place name, Anenecuilco. The water in question flows upward and bends to the viewer's right, branching off into five fingers, reminiscent of a hand. White turbinate shells and water droplets/beads appear at the ends of these five streams. The water has the typical turquoise blue coloring, with wavy lines suggesting currents (with one especially thick black line in the middle of the lower part of the stream). At the middle of the glyph the water also swirls, and the artist used the same black lines of current to show this whirlpool.

Description, 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

Semantic Categories: 
calendrics
day name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Movement
Shells
Time, Calendar, Frequency
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
black
blue (turquoise)
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
curving, curvy, curved
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Keywords: 

water, shells

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

a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

water

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 24 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 59 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: 

Anenecuilco (Mdz24v)