Ayoxochapan (Mdz24v)

Ayoxochapan (Mdz24v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the place name Ayoxochapan has three principal visual components, a flower (xochitl or xōchitl, recognizing the vowel length], a squash (ayotli or ayohtli), and a stream of water (atl) or ātl). The flower, consisting of three yellow petals pointing upward, is merged with the upright, two-tone green, striped squash. The water (meant to provide the phonetic clue to the locative suffix -apan, at or on the waters of) is typically painted turquoise with lines of current. It flows over and down the squash from the site of the flower. Splashing off the water are two white turbinate shells and a droplet (or precious jade stone), also white.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The water possibly has a dual purpose, not only only providing the -apan (locative suffix), but also the phonetic A- that starts the place name, even though the ayotli also provides this. The overall reference seems to be to a place known for squash blossoms, but also where there would be a river or other body of water. Karttunen suggests a lake.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

ayoxochapā.puo

Gloss Normalization: 

Ayoxochapan, pueblo

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
locative (visual not silent)
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
compound fully logographic
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Flowers
Food, Eating, Cooking
Names (places)
Plants, Flora
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
green (dark)
green (light)
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
trapezoidal
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
left to right
Keywords: 

squash blossoms, flowers, vegetables, food, flores de calabaza, comida, vegetales

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

ayo(tli) or ayoh(tli) , squash, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ayotli
a(tl) or ā(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/conent/atl
xoch(itl) or xōch(itl), flower(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/xochitl
-apan (locative suffix), on or at the waters of, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/apan-0

Karttunen’s Interpretation: 

"On Squash Blossom Lake" [Frances Karttunen, "Critique of glyph catalogue in Berdan and Anawalt edition of Codex Mendoza," unpublished manuscript, used here with her permission.]

Additional Scholars' Interpretations: 

"On the Water of the Gourd Flower" (Berdan and Anawalt, 1992, vol. 1, p. 174)

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

"En al Agua (Lago?) de la Flor de Calabaza"

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).