atl (Mdz28r)

atl (Mdz28r)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This element for water (atl) coincides with the portrayal of sand (xalli) in the compound sign for the place name, Xalac, "At the Water." The dots of sand fill the typical shape of a flow of water, even suggestive of "lines" of currents. The white turbinate shells and white water droplets/beads still appear at the tips of the "currents."

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

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: 
Dirt, Sand, Soil
Movement
Shells
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
white/neutral
Shapes and Perspectives: 
circle(s) (small, often concentric)
dotted, granular, textured
Keywords: 

water, shells

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

atl, water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

water

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 28 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 66 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: 

Xalac (Mdz28r)