ayotochtli (Mdz13v)

ayotochtli (Mdz13v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This element for an ayotochtli (armadillo) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name Ayotochcuitlatla. The animal pictured here has a black and white "armored" back and tail (segmented and textured), suggestive of the armadillo (ayotochtli). The front and legs of this visually hybrid animal is a rabbit (tochtli), colored purplish-gray and white. The rabbit's eye, teeth, and chin are white. The animal is in profile, facing to the viewer's left.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

The rabbit (toch-) elements of this visually hybrid animal provide a phonetic clue the reader that this is meant to be read armadillo (ayotochtli). For further information on the armadillo, see Mexicolore's study of it.

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)

Writing Features:

compound of phonogram(s) & logogram(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.

Cultural Content, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Colors:

purple (light)/lavender

white/neutral

Shapes and Perspectives:

facing left

profile view

Keywords:

armadillos, rabbits, conejos

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

ayotoch(tli), armadillo, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ayotochtli

Additional Scholars' Interpretations:

armadillo

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Codex Mendoza, folio 13 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 37 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).