ayotl (Mdz46r)
This element has been carved from the compound glyph for the place name, Ayotzintepec. The word for squash (ayotli) or the word for turtle (ayotl) is at the root of this place name. Most translators favor the interpretation that this is a turtle shell (ayotl) and not literally a squash, which would make the turtle a phonetic indicator.
Stephanie Wood
Note the turtle shells that were made in offerings in the heart of the capital city, Mexico Tenochtitlan, currently on display in the museum of the Templo Mayor. These shells provide an authentic comparison and possibly underline the support for the emphasis on turtles over squash.
Also worth noting is the link between the glyphs for ayotl and yaotl (enemy combatant) which overlap significantly in the Matrícula de Huexotzinco. And, the turtle shell (carapacho in Spanish) served as a percussion instrument. The Museo de Sitio de Tlatelolco (2012, 259) provides an excellent example of one of these turtle-shell drums. This may provide another connection between the turtle and warfare.
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
squash, turtles, calabazas, tortugas
Ayotl. Turtle carapaces found in offerings on display at the Museo del Templo Mayor. According to the Museo, "complete specimens were not deposited in offerings, only their carapaces, which were also found represented in stone sculpture." Photograph by Stephanie Wood, 15 February 2023. Comments by Robert Haskett.
ayo(tli), squash, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ayotli
ayo(tl), turtle, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ayotl
squash
la calabasa
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 46 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 102 of 188.
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).
