atotonilli (Mdz8r)

atotonilli (Mdz8r)
Simplex Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This is an attestation of a compound glyph for Huei Atotonilco, and it stands for hot water. We see a flared-mouth, round bottom, ceramic pot sitting on hearth stones. The pot has carbon on the portion near the hearth stones. Water runs along the top of the pot and spills over the sides a little bit. The water is turquoise blue, as usual, and it has waves or splashes that feature white turbinate shells and white water droplets/beads. The water also has black lines that suggest currents.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

This blackened ceramic pot rests on two stones, both of which suggest that the pot is resting over a fire. Thus, the water that spills over the top has probably boiled. These visuals attest to the name atotonilli (hot water). The size of the pot varies in the Codex Mendoza, as Gordon Whittaker has pointed out, which results in the diverging size of the place names Atotonilco and Huei Atotonilco (the latter, being Greater Atotonilco).

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Gloss 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:

Ceramics, Pottery

Containers, Dishes, Eating Utensils

Food, Eating, Cooking

Shells

Water

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

purple (light)/lavender

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

circle(s) (small, often concentric)

size (relative, intentional)

Keywords:

water, shells

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

atotonil(li), hot water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atotonilli
totonil(ia), to heat something, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/totonilia
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

hot water

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

el agua caliente

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 8 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 26, 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).